Four million dollars, through a traffic jam

Right after I learned to drive at 16 I started driving all of southern California's highway systems. We moved to Tucson 21 years ago this month. It seems that the population has doubled in that time and all the roads and streets are constantly under construction for improvements and widening.

Tucson didn’t build a “Freeway”, i.e., limited access high speed multi lane highway system like Phoenix or Los Angeles, so most commuters drive on the boulevards some being two lanes and a few being 2 or 3 in each direction. Tucson’s only highway is Interstate 10, which bisects the city from the northwest to the southeast. When we moved here there were only two lanes in each direction. Now there are 3 lanes and additional 2 or 3 service lanes in each direction parallel to the highway and we still have bumper-to-bumper traffic during rush hour.

In the last few months they have started a major improvement to rebuild all the overpasses and entry and exit ramps to I10 in the center of Tucson. So they closed all the ramps over 10 miles in each direction while they are rebuilding both the bridges and several traffic lanes in each direction. So if you need to take the road to downtown Tucson you must exit early and take the service lanes. It is a sight to behold.

Looks like NZ drives on the wrong side of the road. ;) When I was in Jamaica, they drive on the left also. With the steering wheel on the right it wasn't much of an adjustment. Except when I was parked off the road on the right of the street, it usually took me an extra few seconds to get over to the the left. LOL