OT: Traffic rant. Anyone else get caught up in the Greene Co AL traffic debacle yesterday?....

[thekimmer]

That was the worst non-weather related traffic delay I have ever experienced. FIVE HOURS to travel about 20 miles. Headed east on I20 in rural Greene county AL after visiting family over the weekend. Encountered back-up right at Exit 45 and it took over 3 hours to get to Exit 52 where they were taking cars off the interstate to route around a closure. Then another 1.5 hours on the detour to get back on the interstate. This was in clear weather and was not even related to an auto accident so no waiting for emergency vehicles or road clean-up. Just a simple detour around a closure. Someone apparently kicked a stiff out on the interstate a few miles up in Tuscaloosa county and they closed all eastbound lanes to investigate.

All I have to say is a big fat F to whomever was handing that detour, which I assessed to be local greene county. They had absolutely no idea what they were doing. I have had to bypass interstate closures many times and it always sucks but FIVE HOURS!?!? Saw ZERO LEO from the spot the backup started until we were routed off and made it back onto the interstate. The road closure was accomplished with a couple those DOT trucks parked across the highway like the ones you see in construction zones with lights on the back. Saw one lone guy trying to direct traffic at the top of the ramp where we were took off the interstate. He appeared to be a DOT worker bee with no flashlight or anything to communicate. Could not see his hands clearly and had to kind of guess what he wanted you to do. At least he tried I suppose. After him, nothing. What should have been a 5 hour trip turned into 10 hours. OK rant over. Feel free to share your similar war stories.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

This is why I use a traffic app everywhere I go. It minimizes, but doesn't eliminate the chance of this happening. I ignored it's advice once thinking I knew better. 3 hours to go 1 mile. Same situation, planned construction. Raining cats and dogs. People were panic driving off into the grassy strip between the interstate and the frontage road and promptly bottoming out in mud. Strange thing was, people continued to try the whole time I was stuck there, despite the graveyard of failed attempts. Stranger thing was dudes in corolla-like cars were trying to rally car through that thing despite seeing 4wds stuck there already. I propped my phone up on the dash and watched youtube videos until I could take an exit. Thankfully I did not have any personal bowel emergencies.

 

[thekimmer]

This is why I use a traffic app everywhere I go. It minimizes, but doesn't eliminate the chance of this happening. I ignored it's advice once thinking I knew better. 3 hours to go 1 mile. Same situation, planned construction. Raining cats and dogs. People were panic driving off into the grassy strip between the interstate and the frontage road and promptly bottoming out in mud. Strange thing was, people continued to try the whole time I was stuck there, despite the graveyard of failed attempts. Stranger thing was dudes in corolla-like cars were trying to rally car through that thing despite seeing 4wds stuck there already. I propped my phone up on the dash and watched youtube videos until I could take an exit. Thankfully I did not have any personal bowel emergencies.

I agree. I often use a traffic app and wish I had then as we might have been able to get off before, but it was a clear weather, low traffic Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere in rural alabama. But once we hit the backup it was all over. No turning back and no other exits. Live and learn.

 

[The Peeper]

I'm same way about the apps, I usually know exactly where I'm going and don't need directions but use it for speed traps and re-routes. I became a fan leaving NOLA one morning early and it was telling me to avoid Metairie on the interstate and to go out by the airport during rush hour. I reluctantly agreed with it and was damn glad I did, I heard horror stories afterwards about a wreck w/ fatalities and they couldn't move the vehicles until coroner arrived to pronounce them deceased, there was a fuel leak also from a tanker that they had to call in Hazmat to clean up so it was a zoo.

Sidenote: This is also why I don't let my gas tank get below 1/4 when traveling. Happened to me one day on I-40 between Memphis and Nashville. Stuck there for hours and my truck was breathing fumes and I was sweating it out. NEVER did see the cause of delay and finally started moving after 3 hrs and rolled into nearest filling station, took 1 gallon over the tank capacity so I know I was empty. Learned my lesson that day, always fill it at 1/4 tank

 

[Cantdoitsal]

Google Maps has gotten me outta a lot of jams here in Fort Worth but yea, I've seen lots of times where the cops don't seem to have a 17ing clue as to how to deal with road schit. Did I catch it right that all of this was due to a guy kicking a dead dude outta his car?

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I usually use Waze, but is google maps better? Any others?

 

[thekimmer]

Google Maps has gotten me outta a lot of jams here in Fort Worth but yea, I've seen lots of times where the cops don't seem to have a 17ing clue as to how to deal with road schit. Did I catch it right that all of this was due to a guy kicking a dead dude outta his car?

Yep

 

[ckDOG]

I usually use Waze, but is google maps better? Any others?

Waze seems to be the most aggressive in rerouting around traffic jams. Their map and general UI is awful and I only use it when apple or google tells me there is traffic ahead.

I've been using the Apple product recently bc the map is nicer and I prefer how it communicates directions. Instead of "turn right on Maple street in 1000 feet" it will say "after the next light, turn right on Maple street", or something like that. It's much better with context clues than the other major apps. I appreciate that when there's traffic and you need to be focused on driving instead of very literal directions.

 

[The Peeper]

Google bought Waze out in 2013 and has the rights to their technology. I could tell a big difference in them years ago but today, not so much. Google looks so much better than Waze on screen

 

[Boom Boom]

Alabama has always been the worst for that kind of stuff. Got stuck on i-20 coming back to starkville one time for about that long. We were throwing a football on the side of the road with randoms when we noticed the line behind us was slowly dissolving by people turning around and heading back up the highway the wrong way. Turns out PD had detoured the highway at a bridge just over a rise behind us, and didn't bother to tell anyone past it for several hours. We all went up the off ramp and took the detour.

Also once took 11 hours to go from gulf shores to Biloxi. Alabama is the worst.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I usually use Waze, but is google maps better? Any others?

Google consumed Waze and has pretty much killed innovation on that platform. Google Maps is probably the winner now. I will say that Google Maps took me down a wrong, obscure, country road around Smith Lake whereas Apple Maps put me in the right spot. So maybe it's a toss up. The one time I sat for 3 hours that I noted above, I had new car with nav that was telling me to get off and stupid Waze told me to press on. I trusted Waze that time and it let me down. Should've gone with the car nav.

 

[FQDawg]

I usually use Waze, but is google maps better? Any others?

I've used Waze in the past but have noticed that the native Apple maps app on my iPhone seems to work just as well. I also had an issue with Waze over the holidays where it seemed like the app would just stop working. As an example, we were coming up on the I-40/840 split outside Nashville and I realized Waze wasn't telling me which way to go. Had my wife look at the app and it had a notification asking if we wanted to restart the route - even though it had been working fine not long before that.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I've used Waze in the past but have noticed that the native Apple maps app on my iPhone seems to work just as well. I also had an issue with Waze over the holidays where it seemed like the app would just stop working. As an example, we were coming up on the I-40/840 split outside Nashville and I realized Waze wasn't telling me which way to go. Had my wife look at the app and it had a notification asking if we wanted to restart the route - even though it had been working fine not long before that.

Google buying Waze is just another example of a merger where "nothing is going to change, we really value what you guys do" did not play out in reality. Google really bought them to kill a competitor and steal any code that they liked.

 

[dudehead]

We were traveling west on I-20 yesterday and saw the covered body right in the middle of the east bound roadway. There was a handful of LEO standing about 75 to 100 yards west of the body, just talking. It appeared to me they were waiting on somebody or something, perhaps coroner or investigation team. The East bound lane was backed up quite a ways when we passed.

This was one of the stranger things I've ever seen on a highway in my 60 years.

 

[SwampDawg]

Google consumed Waze and has pretty much killed innovation on that platform. Google Maps is probably the winner now. I will say that Google Maps took me down a wrong, obscure, country road around Smith Lake whereas Apple Maps put me in the right spot. So maybe it's a toss up. The one time I sat for 3 hours that I noted above, I had new car with nav that was telling me to get off and stupid Waze told me to press on. I trusted Waze that time and it let me down. Should've gone with the car nav.

My wife has a Lexus that has the built in car nav. Don't use it since it once told me "your destination is on your left." After several minutes of frustration I finally turned left (for no particular reason) went a couple of blocks and found my destination. Now I use Google Maps on my phone which works fairly well.

 

[The Peeper]

We were traveling west on I-20 yesterday and saw the covered body right in the middle of the east bound roadway. There was a handful of LEO standing about 75 to 100 yards west of the body, just talking. It appeared to me they were waiting on somebody or something, perhaps coroner or investigation team. The East bound lane was backed up quite a ways when we passed.

This was one of the stranger things I've ever seen on a highway in my 60 years.

Wife and I came upon a wreck just outside Tupelo probably 35 years ago just after daylight on a foggy morning on our way to Birmingham. Tires on the upside down car were still turning it was so recent. There were 2 bodies laying in the grass all contorted, no doubt they were DOA at that point the way they were laying. There were a couple cars already there and we just kept rolling in silence, strangest feeling seeing them laying around like that and we didn't have a clue who they were but it was just chilling almost because we both knew they were history

 

[DawgInThe256]

One thing I recently learned about Waze is that you can request a copy of the data they keep. So if you're ever in an accident or get a speeding ticket, the GPS data could at least provide some support. Coordinates are recorded about every 5 seconds, so you can only calculate average speeds.

 

[fevans]

I used Waze in the past, but the thing that really sucked with it was when I tried to find something along my route. One thing I really liked about it though was the speed trap warnings. Google has now incorporated this functionality into Maps and I haven't used Waze in a while.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Got caught on the wrong side of a rockslide a couple of years ago. Had to drive 200 miles out of my way for the detour. That sucked.

 

[Dawgbite]

This is why I use a traffic app everywhere I go. It minimizes, but doesn't eliminate the chance of this happening. I ignored it's advice once thinking I knew better. 3 hours to go 1 mile. Same situation, planned construction. Raining cats and dogs. People were panic driving off into the grassy strip between the interstate and the frontage road and promptly bottoming out in mud. Strange thing was, people continued to try the whole time I was stuck there, despite the graveyard of failed attempts. Stranger thing was dudes in corolla-like cars were trying to rally car through that thing despite seeing 4wds stuck there already. I propped my phone up on the dash and watched youtube videos until I could take an exit. Thankfully I did not have any personal bowel emergencies.

I never cross the I10 Mobile Bay bridge without checking WAZE. I sat on that thing for hours before.