violachic

Some car/driving related frustrations that are begging for release:

Yesterday I got duped into driving on the Eisenhower expressway. I usually try to avoid it at all costs, but yesterday it just sucked me in.

A couple of years ago, IDOT decided it was going to attempt to correct the local engineering disaster affectionately nicknamed by natives as the "Hillside Strangler". It is where I-88, I-294 and Roosevelt Rd. all junction into I-290 (Eisenhower Expy). There, drivers are expected to merge from a grand total of six lanes down into ONE. Hoo boy, sounds fun, don't it? Especially as this is THE only expressway into the city from this area. Traffic has become exponentially worse in the last ten years, and I have gotten in the habit of driving as far east on Roosevelt Rd. as I can before getting on I-290 to get downtown or to I-94.

In an effort to control traffic flow (instead of actually redoing the entrances or adding multiple lanes or anything else reasonably sane) IDOT put an electronic gate up at the Roosevelt Rd. entrance. The premise is simple: if traffic gets too heavy, one cannot enter the expressway, and must instead drive east on Roosevelt Rd, as I have been doing for years, and find an entrance later on down the line after traffic has dissipated slightly. When first installed, the gate worked sporadically- sometimes it wouldn't be closed in time and traffic would back up down the ramp; sometimes it would short-circut and close randomly in the middle of the day, and they were unable to open it when traffic was actually at peak sparseness. In the last eight or ten months, however, IDOT seemed to be able to gain control over their monster, and it has behaved reasonably well. So as I was driving east yesterday morning to meet Libby for lunch, when at ten thirty in the morning I noticed the gate was open, I thought to myself "Hey, the gate is open. It is well past rush hour. Traffic should be at least moderatly clear. I will save ten minutes by taking the expressway instead of being stopped at lights every fifty yards down Roosevelt Rd."

Silly me.

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Before I drove into the city last night to watch the World's Worst Movies (which, by the way, they ARE the world's worst movies), I filled the gas tank in my car. The Citgo near my house had 87- octane priced at $1.69-9, which all things considering I thought was quite a fair price. All the gas stations I passed seemed to be priced similarly (yes, I drove all the way down Roosevelt Rd. this time and got on the Eisenhower at Austin... I learned. Smart me!).

However on the way home, I flipped out when I noticed that the Thornton's station in Villa Park had plummetted to $1.48-9. All the other stations between there and home had seemed to hold steady, so although slightly irritated, I figured it was a fluke. It is consistently the cheapest gas station I pass, so maybe they were trying to drum up business or whatever.

But on my way back east this morning for work (yes, I drive Roosevelt Rd. a lot...), I noticed that every single gas station that is not a major brand name (i.e. Mobile, Amoco, BP, etc) was down to the same price.

I steamed.

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Merge. Learn how to freaking merge.