After a little over 1,400 miles from Alexandria Minnesota to Boise Idaho on our interstate highway system here are a few observations. Lets start with how our state governments seek to maximize the level of inconvenience for the driving public. Instance one occurred on I94 in Minnesota between Alexandria and Moorhead. The contractor established a two-mile single lane stretch to accomplish bridge work that covered something around 100 feet. The second instance, again on the same stretch, was an over 10 mile single lane established for work on the east bound lane, we were west bound. However, traffic was already using the east bound lane but the west bound obstruction was still in place. Things did not get better as we crossed into North Dakota and Montana. Again, there were restricted lanes with little or no work, or even workers on lane restrictions of a length that did not at all coincide with the amount of work being done. On one 25-mile segment there were workers only on the last coupe of miles with the balance either completed or not even started – could not tell for sure. I guess my problem is that I think the primary purpose for our roads is for use by the driving public but judging by the way road construction is managed the real primary purpose must be to provide employment for road construction and maintenance workers and their companies.

Now lets talk about the bullies of the road. Here I am talking about the drivers of the semi trucks. They do not think they own the road – they know they own the road, at least that is the way they drive. On a number of occasions truckers moved into the left lane to pass when there was not sufficient space between traffic to safely make the change causing me and other drivers to brake hard to avoid a collision. Now I understand why they do that – they do not want to lose their momentum – but that selfish reason does not give them the right to endanger other drivers. In one of the above mentioned construction zones we had the misfortune to be one car behind a semi whose driver was moving at well below the posted speed limit – even the reduced limit in the construction zone. By the time we cleared the construction zone he was over a mile behind the next vehicle. And who has not been stuck behind one semi attempting to pass another semi on an uphill grade and taking an inordinate amount of time to accomplish the task. On one occasion the driver had to eventually drop back into the right lane as he could not make the grade. Don’t know exactly how long that took but it was well over five minutes again moving at well below the posted speed limit. This is exacerbated in states like North Dakota and Montana that have lower speed limits for trucks. Then there is my problem with the amount of recap tire litter that the trucks leave behind.

Both the actions of the state maintenance authorities and the truckers not only add substantial inconvenience to the driving public but I would submit compromise safety. Driver frustration can lead to more aggressive driving and taking chances resulting in more accidents and unfortunately highway deaths. So if we can bring more attention to the issues maybe, just maybe, change might result. Let’s hope so.