On my recent motorcycle trip to Florida, I was caught twice in traffic jams resulting from accidents (once a tractor-trailer went off the road under a bridge shutting down the highway for hours, later several cars all jockeying for the same lane ended up on the side of the road surrounded by cop cars and ambulances). Traffic from accidents is at least understandable if not incredibly frustrating (I managed to stay accident free on two wheels - 4 and 18 wheel drivers should have no reason to ever crash), as you can't plan for the unplannable.
However, both times through Washington D.C. I was also stuck in traffic, and that is inexcusable. How is it possible that our nation's capital has so poorly planned for the inevitable traffic in, around, and through it that at 1:00 in the afternooon on a Saturday in June it takes 2 hours to drive around the city? This is just plainly a poorly planned highway system, there's no two ways around it.
The capital of our country should be better represented by its first impressions, and the first impression of any city is its highway system. Get your shit together, D.C., and at least give the rest of us a better and easier way to avoid your congestion if we're just passing through.
OK, I feel better. Carry on.
