Since February, I’ve been commuting daily on US 101, possibly the most famous — or notorious — highway in California. In terms of time spent it’s a no-brainer to use 101, since unlike back in DC, there’s still an “against traffic” direction here. My commute against traffic takes about 15 minutes, going the same distance that used to take me 45 minutes in DC. Great, right?
No so much. 101 is a pretty crappy road, aging rapidly and falling apart, and after my accident back in August I’ve been skittish driving this route every day. There are three problems:
- Road condition. 101 here in the Bay Area (also known as the Bayshore Highway) is a crumbling mess, with varying road surfaces from asphalt to concrete to cracked rubble. In the mornings when the sun shines right at your windshield, all you can see is the shiny tar patches in a blaze of random shapes — like the blaze camouflage once used on warships. Don’t even try to see any debris on the road, it’s impossible. And there is plenty of debris, on the roadway and flying through the air. My brand new car has less than 1500 miles on it, and already the windshield is pitted from gravel, rocks, and other debris flying out of truck beds.
- Traffic. There doesn’t seem to be any law or etiquette that gets trucks out of the way of cars. Trucks routinely block the road by occupying all the lanes, three or four abreast, gumming up the works and enticing people in cars to take silly risks. Pickups and vans heading off to work in the morning tend to go about 50 mph and ride in the left lane. Cars seem to automatically become either speed demons or road boulders upon entering the highway, and they zip in and out at every opportunity, risking themselves and everyone around them.
- Interchanges. 101 has perhaps the worst highway interchanges I have ever seen. Cloverleafs are rare, instead there are very short ramps, poorly signed, that leave no room for acceleration. On the ramp I use every morning, from northbound 880 to southbound 101, the acceleration lane is only a couple hundred feet and is shared as the deceleration lane for the next exit! This means one has about 2 seconds to safely merge to the left into incoming traffic while simultaneously watching for vehicles trying to move over to exit. It was at this point that I hit the debris in the road, because I don’t have 15 pairs of eyes.
Anyway. This morning I tried a new commute, avoiding the more direct 101 route altogether and opting for newer roads: Highway 87 south through downtown and then east on 85. It took something like 10 minutes longer, which really sucks, but the cost on my nerves was far less.
