Work at Home; Leave the Traffic to Others

By Ron Shaffer
Sunday, February 26, 2006

D ear Dr. Gridlock:

How many people in this city turn off their computers at home and head off to a long commute, only to sit in front of a computer to do their work?

It does not make any sense to spend millions of dollars to build roads when telecommuting has not been given enough support.

Studies have been done that show an increase in productivity by those working at home.

I imagine that if any company were given major tax incentives to allow more employees to work from home, we would not need the new roads or have the pollution generated by all the unnecessary traffic.

Glenna Shawn

Washington

If we're going to get out of ever-mounting gridlock, we've got to do more work from home or at least from regional office centers. We are reaching the point where telework is becoming a necessity lest our transportation system collapse.

For more information, contact Chuck Wilsker, president of the Telework Coalition, at 202-266-0046, Ext. 101, or http://www.telcoa.org . He has information on how to set up a contract between employer and employee and which employers offer telework jobs. He also has a list of all the telework centers in our metropolitan area.

These centers offer an office environment that lets employees work near home.

Since we are so heavily computer-dependent in this metropolitan area, we ought to be able to work from our computers at home, even if just one day a week. Try it. Let me know what happens.

A Lesson From Germany . . .

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I recommend that Virginia Department of Transportation officials make a trip to Europe and observe road signage there. The signs on the Autobahn are large and well lighted and give plenty of advance notice.

The Germans understand that poor signage causes accidents. Why can't we?

California also has excellent signage and should be emulated.

I have told VDOT of my concerns, and they only shrug.

Richard Smith

Annandale

They shrug because they don't care about good signing.

You speak of California: There, descending freeway signs routinely give the next three exits and the distance to each. At the point of exit is a large overhead sign that provides the name of the road.

Here, we get one sign, no mileage and at the point of exit, a single, sad sign that says, "Exit." Thank you very much.

At traffic lights, many states have well-lighted overhead signs giving the intersecting streets. Here, more often than not, the intersection is dark, causing drivers to become lost, make sudden turns, waste fuel and add pollution. It's a shame.

. . . And Romania

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I recently moved from Arlington to Bucharest, Romania. While many people here will correctly tell you traffic is terrible, the subway system is terrific.

After years of riding the crowded Orange Line, where you can barely get in the door because everyone crowds around it, I love the fact that here the benches run along the sides of the subway cars, that there are straps for short people like me to hang on to and the cars are open at each end so you can move to the next car if yours gets too crowded.

What a relief after the Washington area Metro system! I wish this could be emulated back home.

Kathy Kavalec

Bucharest

Not that long ago, Romania was a backward, Stalinist society. That the subway system there is better than ours is a sad commentary.

Online Chat Tomorrow

Dr. Gridlock will host an online chat from 1 to 2 p.m. tomorrow on http://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline .

Interested in a Visit?

I've enjoyed meeting the following groups over the past month: Sacred Heart Catholic Church seniors of Manassas, the McLean Rotary Club, Springfield retired federal employees (NARFE), Senior Center of Loudoun County, OASIS Seniors at Chevy Chase and the McLean Civic Association. If you are interested in an appearance, write to me at drgridlock@washpost.com . We are looking for groups of at least 40 people.

Transportation researcher Diane Mattingly contributed to this column.

Dr. Gridlock appears Thursday in the Extra and Sunday in the Metro section. You can write to Dr. Gridlock at 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. He prefers to receive e-mail, atdrgridlock@washpost.com, or faxes, at 703-352-3908. Include your full name, town, county and telephone numbers.