Better Traffic Management, Not Reporting, Needed
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Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I drive Interstate 270 twice daily, and I am appalled at the fundamental lack of decent traffic reporting by any TV or radio news stations.
My least favorite word has to be "volume," which can mean anything from "packed but traveling at 55" to "packed but traveling at 5 mph." Could someone please provide us with more details? How about average travel speed? How about estimated travel time from point A to point B? How about covering all six major arteries into the District each and every time you report on traffic?
WTOP can go a full 30 minutes and never mention 270 once, all while I am sitting in the middle of 270 wondering what the heck is going on.
And one more thing on my wish list: Next time an accident ties up 270 or any major artery with an HOV lane, let's make it mandatory to open up the HOV lanes and stop punishing the majority for the stupidity of one.
My taxes pay for all lanes, HOV or not, and if someone cannot drive in a straight line on 270 without running into someone, I should not be penalized further by not being allowed to use the HOV lane as a backup because one of my lanes of traffic is now out of commission.
-- P. Hoekstra, Germantown
I count two dozen routes that commuters consider major arteries into the District. There are many other major commuter routes, such as Route 28 in Virginia or Route 301 in Maryland, that don't cross the D.C. line.
Since commuters shouldn't be looking at television or traffic Web sites while driving, let's consider how traffic information is delivered on a major radio station. WTOP radio offers reports about a minute long every 10 minutes.
That's about six minutes per hour. In a pre-rush report Friday afternoon, Bob Marbourg used one of his minutes to describe a crash on the Capital Beltway in Alexandria, a crash on Branch Avenue in Brandywine and the relatively smooth travel for Beltway drivers from Tysons in Virginia north to Interstate 95 in Maryland. A crash description usually involves three elements: Where it happened, what happened and how to get around it.
