Commute Mess Clara Barton/Palisades

[Anonymous]

What a mess it was getting out of DC yesterday! Makes me glad I don’t work there anymore!

It was particularly bad on the Clara Barton Parkway. Waze routed me off Clara Barton and through the Palisades neighborhood- MacArthur Blvd, Sherrier Place and Arizona Avenue. Lovely neighborhood, but in my driving I wondered if this traffic madness was a daily occurrence through this neighborhood? And it wasn’t just the volume of cars, but disregard for law and order- running stop signs, driving the wrong way on streets (I saw multiple cars pass lines of other cars to get ahead of others), illegal u-turns, blocking intersections, and more. It was pure chaos! Obviously, I was part of the problem, but was curious if the local neighborhoods had looked into this? Waze and Google Maps are great, but one thing I’ve noticed is it’s turned many small neighborhoods into commuter routes.

[Anonymous]

It's never great but yesterday was particularly bad because of the storms and there's also construction on macarthur right now. I also wonder if something happened on clara barton because I was also routed off of it so maybe that's why there was more chaos on the other routes?

[Anonymous]

For the "take Metro" crowd, Metro has been an absolute disaster all week and was a horror show yesterday, at least the Red Line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a mess it was getting out of DC yesterday! Makes me glad I don’t work there anymore!

It was particularly bad on the Clara Barton Parkway. Waze routed me off Clara Barton and through the Palisades neighborhood- MacArthur Blvd, Sherrier Place and Arizona Avenue. Lovely neighborhood, but in my driving I wondered if this traffic madness was a daily occurrence through this neighborhood? And it wasn’t just the volume of cars, but disregard for law and order- running stop signs, driving the wrong way on streets (I saw multiple cars pass lines of other cars to get ahead of others), illegal u-turns, blocking intersections, and more. It was pure chaos! Obviously, I was part of the problem, but was curious if the local neighborhoods had looked into this? Waze and Google Maps are great, but one thing I’ve noticed is it’s turned many small neighborhoods into commuter routes.

The bike lanes on Arizona Ave have rendered that street inoperable during rush hour.

[Anonymous]

That stretch of Clara Barton parkway is particularly bad because you have people coming in from Virginia and it's kind of like two rivers joining... very chaotic and yes plenty of traffic. But very few people who live in that area take that route daily- most are heading into NW DC for work, and there are many easier roads that head right into DC. Clara Barton is only for heading into Virginia

[Anonymous]

Waze and other navigation apps are the bane of neighborhoods everywhere now. Formerly quiet neighborhood roads are full of jackass cut through drivers who don’t care about the speed limit or pedestrians or children playing outside. Stay in the main roads and just be patient.

[Anonymous]

Canal Rd flooded 7 or 8 years ago after a heavy downpour and emergency crews had to be deployed to rescue stranded motorists. I imagine that it and Clara Barton were shut down as a precaution.

Arizona Ave / MacArthur Blvd is never great at rush hour, but is usually manageable. The never-ending construction on the GWU Parkway is causing a lot of people traveling between Bethesda and Alexandria / Arlington to cut through the city when they would otherwise go around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waze and other navigation apps are the bane of neighborhoods everywhere now. Formerly quiet neighborhood roads are full of jackass cut through drivers who don’t care about the speed limit or pedestrians or children playing outside. Stay in the main roads and just be patient.

OP, here. That was my point and I was guilty of going through the Palisades neighborhood. While driving through these nice, probably usually quiet, tree-lined streets, I thought how furious I would be if I lived in the neighborhood. Next time, I’ll stick to the main roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waze and other navigation apps are the bane of neighborhoods everywhere now. Formerly quiet neighborhood roads are full of jackass cut through drivers who don’t care about the speed limit or pedestrians or children playing outside. Stay in the main roads and just be patient.

They are city streets. They should be open to all. Why would there be any other expectation in DC proper? I drive through Mount Pleasant everyday and those folks drive through my neighborhood. It is a city, not exurbs.

Our problem is not prioritizing flow on the main arteries, to include bike lanes and blocked bus lanes, to a point where side streets which should take longer are now actually faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a mess it was getting out of DC yesterday! Makes me glad I don’t work there anymore!

It was particularly bad on the Clara Barton Parkway. Waze routed me off Clara Barton and through the Palisades neighborhood- MacArthur Blvd, Sherrier Place and Arizona Avenue. Lovely neighborhood, but in my driving I wondered if this traffic madness was a daily occurrence through this neighborhood? And it wasn’t just the volume of cars, but disregard for law and order- running stop signs, driving the wrong way on streets (I saw multiple cars pass lines of other cars to get ahead of others), illegal u-turns, blocking intersections, and more. It was pure chaos! Obviously, I was part of the problem, but was curious if the local neighborhoods had looked into this? Waze and Google Maps are great, but one thing I’ve noticed is it’s turned many small neighborhoods into commuter routes.

The bike lanes on Arizona Ave have rendered that street inoperable during rush hour.

You are a lying clown with no integrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a mess it was getting out of DC yesterday! Makes me glad I don’t work there anymore!

It was particularly bad on the Clara Barton Parkway. Waze routed me off Clara Barton and through the Palisades neighborhood- MacArthur Blvd, Sherrier Place and Arizona Avenue. Lovely neighborhood, but in my driving I wondered if this traffic madness was a daily occurrence through this neighborhood? And it wasn’t just the volume of cars, but disregard for law and order- running stop signs, driving the wrong way on streets (I saw multiple cars pass lines of other cars to get ahead of others), illegal u-turns, blocking intersections, and more. It was pure chaos! Obviously, I was part of the problem, but was curious if the local neighborhoods had looked into this? Waze and Google Maps are great, but one thing I’ve noticed is it’s turned many small neighborhoods into commuter routes.

The bike lanes on Arizona Ave have rendered that street inoperable during rush hour.

So so bad.

[Anonymous]

Waze continually suggests crazy routes to save 1-3 minutes.

I have used it when there is construction and sometimes it legitimately helps but one time it diverted me onto a street that was also being repaired that was also a mess to drive through and I could not turn back. Haven't forgiven it for that. A lot of the suggestions can also be impractical and less safe due to left turns across traffic, etc.

I will use a cut-through if the time savings is significant but not just to save a few minutes. Cut-throughs that become a problem get regulated pretty quickly where I live (with signs, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waze continually suggests crazy routes to save 1-3 minutes.

I have used it when there is construction and sometimes it legitimately helps but one time it diverted me onto a street that was also being repaired that was also a mess to drive through and I could not turn back. Haven't forgiven it for that. A lot of the suggestions can also be impractical and less safe due to left turns across traffic, etc.

I will use a cut-through if the time savings is significant but not just to save a few minutes. Cut-throughs that become a problem get regulated pretty quickly where I live (with signs, etc.)

Google Maps once sent me up a logging road in western WA that was impassable for everything other than a logging truck. Almost got stuck in the middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a mess it was getting out of DC yesterday! Makes me glad I don’t work there anymore!

It was particularly bad on the Clara Barton Parkway. Waze routed me off Clara Barton and through the Palisades neighborhood- MacArthur Blvd, Sherrier Place and Arizona Avenue. Lovely neighborhood, but in my driving I wondered if this traffic madness was a daily occurrence through this neighborhood? And it wasn’t just the volume of cars, but disregard for law and order- running stop signs, driving the wrong way on streets (I saw multiple cars pass lines of other cars to get ahead of others), illegal u-turns, blocking intersections, and more. It was pure chaos! Obviously, I was part of the problem, but was curious if the local neighborhoods had looked into this? Waze and Google Maps are great, but one thing I’ve noticed is it’s turned many small neighborhoods into commuter routes.

The bike lanes on Arizona Ave have rendered that street inoperable during rush hour.

The bike lanes literally took away zero car capacity from that road. No car lanes were lost because of them. Please stop with the gaslighting nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waze continually suggests crazy routes to save 1-3 minutes.

I have used it when there is construction and sometimes it legitimately helps but one time it diverted me onto a street that was also being repaired that was also a mess to drive through and I could not turn back. Haven't forgiven it for that. A lot of the suggestions can also be impractical and less safe due to left turns across traffic, etc.

I will use a cut-through if the time savings is significant but not just to save a few minutes. Cut-throughs that become a problem get regulated pretty quickly where I live (with signs, etc.)

It cracks me up what Waze sends drivers to try to cross Conn Ave at Chevy Chase Parkway, where there is no light. During rush hour, there are uber drivers 10 deep waiting to get across.