Welcome to My Hell: The 401

[Kitdy]

So this is the featured article on Wikipedia today:

Ontario Highway 401 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah. A lot of peeps really rag on the 401, but it is far from my least favourite. Read, and learn about the insanity that is the highway that makes Canada rich.

[f6fhellcat13]

My hours of fun on the 101, 405, 5, and 110 are gone now. All I have to contend with is the mild rush hour on 84 (no definite article in non-gilded states) when the locals forget what they're doing or an interloper from Massachusetts starts crashing into things. The 15 up in K-Bek seems mostly to be a repository for those orange conebarrels of which Transports Québec is so fond. My time in French Canada is usually spent going the opposite direction to the rush, so I have't borne the full brunt of the heures de pointe.

Considering what impressive pieces of engineering they are, freeways don't get much respect. They seem to viewed as blight, in both urban and rural settings. They uglify their surroundings, push powerless folks out of their homes with eminent domain, and we spend far too many years of hours live inching forward at a Planck length at a time. I think I've mentioned it before, but Jalopnik ran an article a while back about how peoplw need to stop using car culture as a euphemism for commuter culture. As mentioned in another thread the ideal is walking/cycling to work or mass transit that isn't like pulling teeth, with the car for weekend barnstorming.

As it stands, the Eisenhower interstate is an incredible piece of technology that would be a pretty pleasant way to eat up the miles were it not for the ubiquity of trucks. Here the ideal would be for private freight trains to carry our goods, where track wear is paid for by the user, not the taxpayer.

[Ferrer]

Yeah, well, last weekend I went to see some friends and I drove on this:

http://www.meinalbum.at/GroteFoto-U4RJ8OHV.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/833/dscn2394d.jpg

I know you are envious.

(Unfortunately this also highlighted the marvellous flaws of the magnificent Alfa Romeo)

[Kitdy]

(Unfortunately this also highlighted the marvellous flaws of the magnificent Alfa Romeo)

Also, evidently, your logic! Emphasis added.

Language needs a specific characater for both sarcasm and joking that is not [/sarcasm] or jk/LoL!

Did you pound some local brews to celebrate after the drive and vote?

[Ferrer]

I actually got utterly wasted on Saturday.

On Spanish wine.

Oh, the irony.

PS. Also I present another one of the joys of owning an Italian car: nothing fits properly.

[drakkie]

My former hell:

A4 motorway (Netherlands) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A4_motorway_(Netherlands)#Midden_Delfland_missing_ link)

Truely unbelievable how it took 50 years to build 7 km's of motorway..

[NSXType-R]

When we visited family in Ontario we borrowed my cousin's GPS. He told us to avoid Highway 407 like the plague because they will find you and make you pay. The GPS is somewhat broken and makes you choose the 407 even though it's a toll thoroughfare. It took us a while to drive away from the 407 so it would reroute us around the stupid thing.