Thursday, May 31, 2007
TIDU: NJ roads
This is a new segment I am starting called "Things I Don't Understand" (TIDU), where I bitch about things I don't understand. First up are the roads in this great state we call New Jersey. Now, let me first state that I grew up here. I lived in NJ from age 2-18. I learned how to drive here (which explains my lack of driving finesse). So, I really had no idea that driving here was totally weird compared to driving anywhere else in the country. I have spent the past 7 years or so living in Orlando, FL, and now I am back in NJ. In the interim, I have driven in several other states, and I can categorically state that the roads in New Jersey are totally bizarre, and this has nothing to do with not getting to pump your own gas (which is obnoxious, but whatever). I am referring, of course, to the lack of left hand turns.
Now, there are some left hand turns. Plenty, really. But there are also an overwhelming number of things we here call "jughandles," and these are completely foreign to most people visiting or passing through the state. I have had friends from other states yell at me, as if I am somehow responsible for these stupid things. Trust me, I am as bewildered as you, I'm just used to them. We also have a lot of traffic circles, which usually somehow cause me to go the wrong way, but that is another story for another day.
I would like to highlight what I have found to be the most ridiculous jughandle in the state. The best part is that you used to be able to make a left hand turn, but traffic would back up really horribly during rush hour. So instead of widening the road, the great state of New Jersey decided to instead create the largest jughandle ever. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Freehold, NJ:
This is the before.
And this is the after.
To top it all off, it is frigging gigantic. I drove it tonight, and I realized that it is approximately 4/10 of a mile to get all away around this thing and make the turn. And that, my friends, is something that I don't understand (Oh, and I stole the maps from Google, cause their maps are the best).
Labels: new jersey, things i don't understand
posted by carlytron @ 12:58 AM,
3 Comments:
- At 6/03/2007 12:13 AM, riese said...
-
I had a conversation tonight about how it sucks to get a rental car with New Jersey license plates, because wherever you drive, no one will like you. Which's really the only state in the country to which that applies. I mean, I love New Jersey, I mean, I don't, actually, but I'm not just randomly hating on NJ, do you know what I mean?
Nice map. - At 6/03/2007 6:49 PM, Crystal said...
-
I came across one of these jughandles once in NJ. I had never seen one before and it scared me - so I bypassed it and drove for another hour just to get where I needed to go.
That sounds really lame, I know. My USA driving is death defying - I'm used to driving on the other side of the road. - At 6/04/2007 4:43 PM, carlytron said...
-
my driving is death defying and i've always lived here.
personally, if i see a car with NY plates, i steer clear, but that's just me :)
it is a nice map, isn't it? i'm really proud of my ability to draw shitty arrows.
