Traffic apps have ruined my commuting life.  Sure everyone 
who grew up in the area agrees; they have their own 
perspective, the roads they grew up on and traveled back and 
forth to work with.  They'll agree with you, that traffic apps 
have ruined the commute, but I've also been a courier, tow 
truck driver and delivery driver all around the Puget Sound 
area.  I know the roads.  So if there was a tangle in the 
commute, or driving, I knew a route that would get me there 
almost as quick -- before traffic apps.
    Traffic apps have made it more easy for more people to 
easily adjust to moving to the area.  They've opened up all 
the roads so more people can live and commute here 
comfortabley, until that is, there's a traffic jam.  Then all 
the roads are blocked.  All the roads I've known, during rush 
hour now, are now blocked.  A commute that normally takes half 
an hour, during non-peak traffic hours, takes two hours - 
every day.  And there are no alternative routes.  Traffic apps 
have gone full circle.  First they made commuting easier, now 
they've destroyed it.
     Currently I commute through Tacoma.  The City of and the 
DOT have brilliantly shut down two, actually all, of the older 
bridges.  For a while they restricted truck traffic.  They 
didn't allow semi's to go over the bridges.  Now the bridges 
are shut down permanently to all cars.  That's probably the 
right thing to do, considering all the old rust and 
deterioration, but that leaves no alternative traffic route 
through Tacoma.  Traffic has one route, I-5 and 509, the Port 
of Tacoma road, which turns into a parking lot during the 
afternoon rush hour.
    If on my morning commute, a car breaks down on I-5 north, 
in Tukwila, every road is blocked immediately.  A commute that 
normally takes less than an hour takes two or three to get 
through to work.
    The other day there was a semi that had turned over, and 
even the residential streets were blocked.  A few days later 
there was a car fire off on the shoulder and traffic got 
through with only a minor slow down.  The police and fire got 
there, shut down two lanes of I-5 and immediately, even the 
residential streets I grew up on, and knew as an alternative 
commute, were blocked.
     Traffic apps were a nice idea, but I think the most 
powerful thing they've done, good or bad, is made it more 
comfortable for more people to move into an area, and now even 
that comfort is gone, every day, during rush hour.
	 
	 
kbushnel.sdf-us.org/contact.html
18Sep25