Traffic Almost Stops While Entering Tunnels

[88bmwjeff]

The local Airheads group here in the San Francisco Bay Area had ride to lunch in the East Bay today. For those of you who are familiar with the East Bay, there is a tunnel (Caldecott Tunnel to be exact) that a local freeway travels through. Traffic often back-ups entering into the tunnel. So, today on the way back from lunch, traffic was traveling about 60mph right up to the tunnel entrance, immediately dropped to below 10 mph, then sped back up to 45-50mph. And, I was in the "fast lane." No accidents or road issues, just people slowing down to an almost stop while entering the tunnel. WTF, this type of behavior gets people in accidents. If you have that much trouble entering into tunnels, then do it in the slow lane.

Thanks for letting me vent a bit.

[Visian]

Probably because they’re wearing sunglasses and it got dark “all of a sudden.”

You should try the tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway sometime. When the temperature is just right you ride into the tunnel and there’s a sheet of ice that forms when water drips from the tunnel’s ceiling.

[bigpoppa]

I totally agree Jeff. Doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re heading into the Caldecott heading east or west. Very frustrating when driving as well…especially when someone in the number one lane speeds up to prevent you from passing and then slows waaaay down when entering the tunnel (without a traffic backup), only to speed up like a bat out of hell again when exiting.

I don’t take Hwy 24 very often these days since I don’t have much of a need to desire to head out to Oakland or SF from Antioch. I-80 south from Hwy 4 is also another stretch I avoid. Seems like folks on that stretch have no problem running a motorcycle off the freeway if it suits them.

Not saying I’m a law-abiding rider, I definitely enjoy my bursts of speed but there’s speeding and there’s recklessness IMHO and many of the Bay Area freeways seem to have had a drastic increase in reckless behavior since the pandemic.

[kbasa]

The tourists seem especially clueless of late.

[akbeemer]

The joys of living a large metropolitan area.

[88bmwjeff]

The joys of living a large metropolitan area.

Sometimes you can have too much "joy."

[Omega Man]

Sounds like you all are suffering from the “inch-worm” effect. Generally generated by road conditions such as-

Sudden light to dark or dark to light.

Speed drops on even the slightest of inclines.

Shiny objects or a crash or an animal or a tire changer on the other side of the road.

Not understanding what the GPS is saying to do- requires almost full stop….at least a coast.

Dropping the “eggamuffin” in one’s lap.

The first thing I thought of when “self-driving” cars were announced is that speed consistency would alleviate some of this.

BTW, all this is a horror out here on the other coast as well.

OM

[kbasa]

The joys of living a large metropolitan area.

More like the joys of living where tourists visit and are horrified by roads with a curve in them, especially if they're 300 feet up on a cliffside.

I'd love to live in the boondocks but after both of us being hauled out of the house by EMTs at different times, we need to be near top flight health care. My wife has a team of doctors, so even secondary cities like Sacramento aren't gonna work.

So I guess we're just gonna have to struggle through in our suburban hellhole.

Screenshot 2023-04-06 at 1.37.41 PM.png

[bigpoppa]

More like the joys of living where tourists visit and are horrified by roads with a curve in them, especially if they're 300 feet up on a cliffside.

I'd love to live in the boondocks but after both of us being hauled out of the house by EMTs at different times, we need to be near top flight health care. My wife has a team of doctors, so even secondary cities like Sacramento aren't gonna work.

So I guess we're just gonna have to struggle through in our suburban hellhole.

I'm in the same boat. My wife and I were looking at making our final move to southern Washington state to be closer to my daughter in Seattle and my job's office in Portland but all of the affordable homes with land were in rural areas with an hour plus drive to the nearest major hospital, not to mention a VA hospital (which is in Seattle IIRC).

We've decided that for better or worse we're staying where we're at. I'm about 30 minutes from the VA in Martinez (on a good day) and we have a couple of halfway decent hospitals in town. Not to mention access to other services we'll likely need in another 10 years or so.

[kbasa]

I'm in the same boat. My wife and I were looking at making our final move to southern Washington state to be closer to my daughter in Seattle and my job's office in Portland but all of the affordable homes with land were in rural areas with an hour plus drive to the nearest major hospital, not to mention a VA hospital (which is in Seattle IIRC).

We've decided that for better or worse we're staying where we're at. I'm about 30 minutes from the VA in Martinez (on a good day) and we have a couple of halfway decent hospitals in town. Not to mention access to other services we'll likely need in another 10 years or so.

I feel ya. I'd love to live up in Cloverdale in Mendocino County, or out in Sebastapol, but if we're in southern Sonoma County, Tina can stick with her doctors and if anything happens, Santa Rosa has a humongous hospital right there at 101/12. We're thinking Bennet Valley, like 5 miles from the hospital.

Let's say that this household has significant and ongoing health factors that prevent us from moving out to the middle of nowhere. It could be a deadly mistake.

But the riding up there in Sonoma? Fantastic. The people? Totally chill and relaxed. You're just far enough outside SF that it has a very different character than the commuter zones.

[88bmwjeff]

Bigpoppa and Kbasa,

I hear you both. I'm in Walnut Creek about a block from John Muir Hospital and it's nice knowing UCSF and Stanford are within a few hours drive if need be. It's nice to be close to good hospitals, but there is a strong pull to go to a less populated area. Unfortunately, it seems as though the older one gets, the more one needs to see a doctor. Luckily, I haven't needed a whole team of doctors yet, but I can't say the same for my wife.

Stay and ride safe.