To Those Driving Back From the Game Tonight | The Boneyard

To Those Driving Back From the Game Tonight

I-280 in New Jersey is closed going up the big hill in West Orange. Reports indicate people hav been parked there for 3+ hours. Unlike last year's big gridlock on I-280, its too early in the season for the snowmobile army to go out and help folks. I am so glad I work remotely.
 
My friend who came to MSG tonight with me said his wife was stuck on a small road in NJ for 4 hours tonight that normally takes 15 min..... crazy
 
In Princeton, NJ daughter’s school had normal dismissal and there were mothers on this WhatsApp mom chat I’m on who were looking for their children’s buses 2 hours post-dismissal. That was at 5 this evening.
They just upped our forecast from 2-4 inches to 4-6 inches... and it’s a lot of ice, too. It’s why I decided not to go, even if I was taking the train.
Port Authority closed... the trains and ferries are overloaded.
Be safe, all. I would hate for such a fun night to turn tragic.
 
.-.
AAA received 1,200 calls in the greater Hartford area tonight.
 
Left work at 530 near Elmwood in WeHa and didn't walk into the house (near JTims) until just before 9. Luckily I had the wife tape the game, but it meant no phone for 3 hours trying to avoid spoilers while sitting in I84 parking lot.
 
Bus trip to msg never made it. Turned into a free for all. My nephew and i never made it to the game. just took the train home. terrible day
 
.-.
Worked from home. I went through one of those disasters, forget that jazz, never again.
 
I’ve been commuting to Westchester County for 20+ years. Tonight was one of the three worst commutes I’ve ever had.

I had an evening meeting canceled and I briefly had thoughts of heading back to my office, parking there and taking the train in to see the game. This was at 2:45 - I was in Yonkers.

There was nothing I could do to get out of Yonkers. Nothing. If you know anything about Yonkers, it’s littered with these short, spiky hills and every one of them had cars sideways, backwards and upside down. I’ve never seen anything like it.

At 7, with my car stuck in an unmoving jam, I actually got out of the car, walked 50’ and watched my car from inside a Dunkin‘ Donuts. I became lifelong friends with a Russian family stuck next to me. Their kids call me Uncle now.

At 9, my car moved enough for me to be able to jump onto a side street. I might have broken a teeny traffic law regarding one way traffic, but I managed over the course of the next hour to get to the Thruway entrance near Ridge Hill. The Saw Mill and the Sprain were in lockdown, so even though it takes me across the river, the Thruway is normally somewhat reliable on nights like tonight. (During my worst commute ever, I left my office at 1 during a snowstorm and I spent 13 hours on the Sprain and Taconic.)

The Thruway also gives me the option of jumping onto 9 or the Palisades if they look better. Not tonight. Like the Saw Mill and the Sprain, they were shut down. State troopers actually camped on the exits to block them.

The Tappan Zee was a disaster and the Thruway was a mess up until Monroe, but after that, it got better until 84 - 84 and everything else was a wreck. I think from the time I got onto the Thruway to the time I got to my house at around 1:45 am, it was about four hours or so. From start to finish, maybe ten hours.

This commute, and the other previous worst commutes, all had two factors that created the disaster - they were early in the winter and the storms were far worse than predicted. People were not ready for the snow and there were more people on the roads than there would normally be when it snows.

People can’t get up the hills. The heat of the cars waiting in traffic melts the snow under them. And then they move...and the melting snow re-freezes. And so on and so on....eventually, you have an grooved ice layer on the road that just becomes a disaster.

Worst of all....I get home and ESPN+ tells me that I have to wait until 4 am to see the Syracuse game.
 
I took the train back and got in about an hour and a half ago to find my driveway loaded with snow. Apparently it didn't occur to wife or son to clear my driveway, or at least call someone.

Still, it was worth it.
 
.-.
I left the garden right after UConn Cuse at 9 pm. It was impossible to get out of city. Took hours, it is now 245 am and I’m just about to hit new haven, I hope to be home ( up the shoreline a bit) by 330.

6.5 hours to do what I usually do in 2 hours tops
 
August_West said:
I left the garden right after UConn Cuse at 9 pm. It was impossible to get out of city. Took hours, it is now 245 am and I’m just about to hit new haven, I hope to be home ( up the shoreline a bit) by 330.

6.5 hours to do what I usually do in 2 hours tops
Expand ...

This was around 10 pm.

This won’t be news to you, but if you were on any of the ‘white’ side streets, they were just as red as the highways.

658-A9267-C82-E-4459-BCA9-9-B9-F036-DEAAE.jpg
 
Fishy said:
This was around 10 pm.

This won’t be news to you, but if you were on any of the ‘white’ side streets, they were just as red as the highways.

658-A9267-C82-E-4459-BCA9-9-B9-F036-DEAAE.jpg
Expand ...
Yeah. Our big mistake was getting off the parking lot that was first avenue, to the absolute standstill of FDR drive . Unbelievable. Bruckner was hosed. 87 was hosed. No way out.

Your night sounds way worse though.
 
I had to service a co-location data center for the Hospital (HSS) I work for... It took me 6 hours (left at 3PM and arrived at shortly after 9PM) to drive from the Bronx, NY to Yorktown Heights, NY... Typically takes 45min-1hr . Unreal! Pile up after pile up in I-87, GWB closed, I-287 a mess in White Plains, Taconic/Saw Mill also a mess. PABT and PENNST a mess... The entire Hudson Valley area + NYC metro transport network collapsed

I just can't believe how a major metro region cannot prepare itself for snow two weeks early. Been living in NYC for 20 years and I never saw a day as bad as this one.

Needless to say that I missed the entire game at MSG. I was hoping to catch it on TV
 
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Just got back to Bristol. Most roads ok- but not 691. 691 is currently the filming stage for Mad Max, there are two dozen vehicles just abandoned along there. It's insane.

When I got home, snow berm at the end of the driveway. Fueled by a Hurley- like desire to always give full effort, instead of parking on the street and hoping for the best, I fired up the snowblower at 3:20 AM and cleared enough to get in there.

If my neighbors complain tomorrow I'll just tell them I did it because it's what Dan Hurley would've done and he's now our governor and senior senator.
 
Damn. I feel for you all. All your stories are part of the reason I left the area and headed south. I couldn’t deal with it anymore.
 
.-.
GW bridge and Port Authority were closed for a while last nite.
 
Fishy said:
I’ve been commuting to Westchester County for 20+ years. Tonight was one of the three worst commutes I’ve ever had.

I had an evening meeting canceled and I briefly had thoughts of heading back to my office, parking there and taking the train in to see the game. This was at 2:45 - I was in Yonkers.

There was nothing I could do to get out of Yonkers. Nothing. If you know anything about Yonkers, it’s littered with these short, spiky hills and every one of them had cars sideways, backwards and upside down. I’ve never seen anything like it.

At 7, with my car stuck in an unmoving jam, I actually got out of the car, walked 50’ and watched my car from inside a Dunkin‘ Donuts. I became lifelong friends with a Russian family stuck next to me. Their kids call me Uncle now.

At 9, my car moved enough for me to be able to jump onto a side street. I might have broken a teeny traffic law regarding one way traffic, but I managed over the course of the next hour to get to the Thruway entrance near Ridge Hill. The Saw Mill and the Sprain were in lockdown, so even though it takes me across the river, the Thruway is normally somewhat reliable on nights like tonight. (During my worst commute ever, I left my office at 1 during a snowstorm and I spent 13 hours on the Sprain and Taconic.)

The Thruway also gives me the option of jumping onto 9 or the Palisades if they look better. Not tonight. Like the Saw Mill and the Sprain, they were shut down. State troopers actually camped on the exits to block them.

The Tappan Zee was a disaster and the Thruway was a mess up until Monroe, but after that, it got better until 84 - 84 and everything else was a wreck. I think from the time I got onto the Thruway to the time I got to my house at around 1:45 am, it was about four hours or so. From start to finish, maybe ten hours.

This commute, and the other previous worst commutes, all had two factors that created the disaster - they were early in the winter and the storms were far worse than predicted. People were not ready for the snow and there were more people on the roads than there would normally be when it snows.

People can’t get up the hills. The heat of the cars waiting in traffic melts the snow under them. And then they move...and the melting snow re-freezes. And so on and so on....eventually, you have an grooved ice layer on the road that just becomes a disaster.

Worst of all....I get home and ESPN+ tells me that I have to wait until 4 am to see the Syracuse game.
Expand ...

I was in Yonkers yesterday morning and it was a mess. We made the mistake of driving in. After the game, I decided to head to Long Island via the mid-town tunnel. After that we were able to cross the Throgs Neck. I95 was covered in ice and trucks were lined up on the road side for miles. We got home to Wilton, about 1am, which in light of the stories I am hearing was really good.
 
We did the Uconn bus trip....left CT at 1pm. Got stuck in Rye NY on an exit ramp for 45 min. One side with a barrier the other a hill with no barrier leading to a cemetery. One guy dressed in a bugs bunny suit got off at one point and was seen on the school bus seen next to us, also stuck because we were in its way. We slipped and slid until we finally got off. The bunny guy was left behind and we had to pull over while he ran up the exit ramp to get back on. We drove through neighborhoods until we convinced the driver to drop us off at train. We trained to grand central then subway to Penn State to drop off bags. Made it 10 min into game and got harassed by cuse fans within 20 seconds telling us were NIT bound. Held it together. ALL WORTH IT. Now going to uconn Iowa tonight.
 
.-.
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