A lovely drive home
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
My commute from work in Redmond to Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood is just over 14 miles, about a 20-minute drive at posted speed limits with no traffic. In the usual afternoon traffic volumes, it’s 25 to 30 minutes.
Tonight’s commute took 107 minutes, about five times longer than normal.
And it gets better.
The first 7.6 miles, from the office to the east end of the SR 520 bridge deck, took 91 of those minutes, for a blistering average speed of 5 mph.
The remaining 6.6 miles required just 16 minutes to travel, including the surface streets. Averaged 25 mph on that leg.
The floating bridge was fun, however. It was swaying noticeably on the rises at the east and west ends, and the spray over the road surface was better than the heaviest rainfall. Quite enjoyable, particularly because by then traffic was moving at nearly the posted 50-mph limit, and keeping the cars in their lanes while the road surface was moving a foot or so left and right was a bit of a trick indeed.
Oh how I love driving in Seattle in any type of inclement weather. :-)