Yep, just drove that twice last month. Also, they’ve been trying to go to 3 lanes for the last 20 years. Still under construction in many spots, slowdowns galore.
The reactions described in the video are called by traffic engineers “turbulence”, just like the turbulence caused by the rocks in a stream. But in truth, while driver behaviors are part of the problem, there are a whole lot of causes of turbulence caused by roads designed for far less traffic than they currently support, weather-induced road obstacles, changes in the environment through which the road traverses (like when a housing development is built on a back road), road deterioration, and even some bad road design. I include in “bad road design” things like rotaries, which can slow traffic but at the expense of causing poor traffic flow… sometimes two blocks back from the rotary.
And then there’s just plain bad driving, IMHO the biggest cause of problems. I include in that definition lack of attention. I’d bet that the first thing cops hear at an accident is “I never saw him”. Some months back a kid rearended me at a redlight minutes after I’d already stopped. I was the third car back from the light. His statement? “I was adjusting my radio”. He should have been paying attention to traffic.
And, of course, in New England this is the season the orange barrels are in bloom
In short, IMHO the video drastically oversimplifies the reasons for traffic congestion to the point of being almost useless. And its suggestion that all drivers should coordinate their starts and stops is just plain ridiculous. It eliminates the three-second (or two if you like) spacing between cars so essential to avoiding accidents.
Scientists claim that in about 5 billion years, the sun will use up all of its fuel, which means they’ll have to finish i-35 in the dark.
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LOL, did they say if they predict that some motorists will still be stuck in traffic on their way home from today?
I can’t tell if you’re serious or not
If you are serious, it sounds like you might be the type of person to suddenly cut in front of me . . . forcing me to slam on my brakes . . . when I was merely trying to maintain a safe following distance. And in the end you’ve arrived at the destination a whopping 5 seconds earlier, than if you were driving like me. Hey, 5 seconds could make the difference between life and death, right? 
Borderline genius, and borderline something else 
I certainly hope you weren’t serious 
Yes, but it does a good job of explaining why freeway traffic is 75 mph bumper to bumper and then you have to brake to a complete stop eventually moving again and speeding back up to 75 mph followed by braking to a complete stop, rinse and repeat.
It’s why I hate I-35.
I have always wondered how being in a car can turn us from polite gentlemen to complete jerks. People who wouldn’t dream of pushing and shoving their way to the front of a line, people who hold the door open for others, are these the same people who cut people off and tailgate in traffic?
I really think a lot of our traffic problems would go away if people would just let others merge, wait their turn in line instead of cutting into a left turn lane at the last minute, not tailgate, and not do aggressive lane changes that force other drivers to suddenly slow down.
I am chronically obtuse but rarely serious @db4690. But what should anyone expect from someone who spent half their life twisting wrenches?
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It’s nothing new.Please watch Disney’s 1950s PSA cartoon “Motor Mania”. It’s on YouTube.
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Then there was this:
The perp was charged with misdemeanor larceny and destruction of property even though the owner of the barrels didn’t press charges, saying it was great publicity for them.
;-]
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Love it, @insightful.
Of course the artist was busted. The Fun Police are always ready to squelch a good time.
As you all know, roadwork is a temporary improvement and a permanent inconvenience.
I suspected you were joking
But it’s sometimes hard to be sure, over the internet . . . 
In this case I agree with the fun police. Moving barrels around at a construction site can be extremely dangerous, especially if they’re used to create a distraction. Construction sites are dangerous and often confusing enough, especially to those unfamiliar with the area, without these types of pranks.
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Every party needs a pooper! 
I’ll bet even the Fun Police got a chuckle out of it. 
However, they had to do their job, of course, as it should be.
Oh, and “Get off my lawn!” 
CSA
If it prevents a crash, I’m happy to play that role.
I understand.
In Michigan some High School kids were “having fun” chucking pieces of concrete and rocks off an overpass on I-75. A six pounder went through a windshield and killed a 32 year-old guy riding as a passenger in a work van. They are being charged with murder.
Sometimes the consequences of a “good time” can be more than one had imagined.
CSA
Many years back (perhaps 25-30 years?) some teens decided to drop a frozen bundle of newspapers off of an overpass over I-280. The force of the impact of this solid mass broke the windshield and resulted in the deaths of the elderly couple who had the misfortune to be driving there. The teens were caught and were convicted of homicide.
W/in a couple of years, high fences were built along all of these overpasses so that nobody could repeat that deadly feat.
This was happening in Syracuse some 25 years ago. Wen on for a couple years. At least 2 people were killed and many were injured. It happened on different bridges at different times. They caught one 12yo…but he couldn’t have done them all. Of course the parents were upset their kid was arrested. Go figure
They do discourage this kind of behavior but I think most kids that have been caught doing these things could also lob an object big enough to kill someone over those fences. It doesn’t take much at those speeds. Stand back a few feet and heave it 8 feet in the air…not a huge impediment but they do serve to discourage that kind of thing…one can hope…
Unrelated but when I stopped at the bank yesterday downtown, I noticed across the street there was a pair of tennis shoes (sneakers for you easterners) hanging from a power line. They were tied together and the line had to be up there 30 feet or so. I couldn’t believe anyone could throw them up that far but wouldn’t want to meet the guy that did it. Still a mystery. I’ll wait to see if the news investigates.