Ever get trapped on the interstate?

[kdonnel]

Hopped on I-85 to go to the mall and half way between exits hit a wall of traffic. It took 3 hours to go the 3 miles to the next exit.

There had just been a fatality accident that closed all lanes southbound and most lanes northbound.

I’ve seen news reports about hours long delays, just never been stuck in one until today.

 

[kanerf]

Too many times to count unfortunately. I-95, I-495, I-66, all are terrible.

 

[Heather07438]

Usually maybe once every 5 yrs or so but a couple of years ago I had it happen 3 times in a little over a 1 yr span.
Hopefully I’m good for the next 10 yrs

 

[kymom99]

Yep. Last weekend we saw air care on the other side of the highway.

 

[kdonnel]

There was some entertainment though. The car in front of me decided to not allow anyone down the emergency lane. That meant a car was riding next to me for 3 miles trying to get around. Eventually they ended up three cars back as the person behind me also started riding half in the emergency lane to block people.

Just before it opened up the car behind the first car stuck in the emergency lane opted to go around off road and rolled their van in the ditch.

He got out of his van and started beating on the window of the car he went around that was riding in the emergency lane.

That was the moment traffic finally broke free and we all started moving.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Mid 1990's got stuck on the Beltway in DC. It was an epic traffic jam for hours and we never figured out what the hold up was. There was a UPS guy in the next lane that asked to use my "car phone" (anyone remember those?) and of course, we let him LOL! My son and I were on a road trip...

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Too many times to count unfortunately. I-95, I-495, I-66, all are terrible.

This, exactly. Hours-long backups are a way of life in the DC area. My personal record was 6 1/2 hours.... twice. If I never drive in DC traffic again it’ll be too soon.

ETA: Those incidents both happened when I was trying to get to work, a drive that would normally have taken about an hour.

 

[RedAngie]

About 25 years ago on the NJ Turnpike. The northern part has six lanes in each direction, but they’re separated into 3 car only lanes and 3 any vehicle lanes. A concrete “Jersey wall” separates them.

There was a slight snowfall with an accident ahead in the car only lanes. I sat there, mostly stopped, occasionally inching along, for about 3 hours. Meanwhile traffic in the truck/bus/car lanes moved by smoothly.

 

[Kittyblue]

I've been on several LA area freeways during rush hour, where it almost feels like a parking lot. One time coming home over the grapevine there was accident that closed the road completely. We sat for about 90 minutes or so. I think everyone shut off their cars. A few people got out and walked around a bit. I think that's the longest I've been stuck in one place on road.

 

[Nagle]

No.

 

[Skippy918]

Yes. Multiple times in the NY/NJ area. The belt parkway and southern state a few times, and the Pulaski skyway, plus a few other highways. The Pulaski skyway has no shoulder so we all had to back up and make u turns and exit off the entrance ramp. That was 3 hours.

 

[amcnj]

An accident on 95 south brought it to a standstill. We were near an entrance ramp onto the road, and after realizing it was going to be a while, cars started going up the ramp and onto the cross street. We followed suit and got back on 95 below the accident. It was in one of the Carolinas, I believe North.

 

[dclpluto]

Did you ever make it to the mall or did you give up?

 

[Skywalker3]

Too many times to count, especially my husband. He commuted between Baton Rouge and New Orleans daily, and often there was some accident on the spillway, the elevated interstate there were were no places to get off. The worst though was for a hurricane evacuation one time. . THey let them leave work around noon , and he got home 10 hours later.

It's always bad though to just think you'll be a few mins getting somewher,e and then stuck for 3 hours. Sorry that happened! We got stuck one time on the Florida panhandle, Disney trip, and after that trip, I never again put off bathroom stops.

 

[DVC-Don]

Few years ago on I-95 north in South Carolina for about 3 hours. Could see the med evac helicopters landing up ahead. When traffic got going we saw a lot of WDW souvenirs strung all over the medium strip and sides of the highway.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We sat for about 90 minutes or so. I think everyone shut off their cars. A few people got out and walked around a bit.

 

[kdonnel]

Did you ever make it to the mall or did you give up?

Took just over 3 hrs total but we made it.

 

[shh]

There was some entertainment though. The car in front of me decided to not allow anyone down the emergency lane. That meant a car was riding next to me for 3 miles trying to get around. Eventually they ended up three cars back as the person behind me also started riding half in the emergency lane to block people.

Just before it opened up the car behind the first car stuck in the emergency lane opted to go around off road and rolled their van in the ditch.

He got out of his van and started beating on the window of the car he went around that was riding in the emergency lane.

That was the moment traffic finally broke free and we all started moving.

do you live in Florida? 'Cause that sounds like just another day of road rage rush hour here lol

 

[DisLiss]

Oh yes. One year we got stopped for hours in the middle of nothing but fields in the middle of nowhere and it was August and it was so hot. We didn't want to leave the car running, so we had the windows open but they were just letting in the sweltering air of the day, made worse by hundreds of cars all around us.

Eventually they came up with some convoluted detour for us to take, but it took hours to inch forward to the exit that would allow it. All we had to go by were some shouted out directions from a guy directing traffic because we didn't have GPS or smart phones. I couldn't even find the road he directed us to use on the state map I had, but at least it was much cooler on that little road.

Some guys had water bottles that they were trying to sell to stranded motorists for $5.00 a bottle. This was back in the 1990s, so that was especially high back then! I was glad I had some drinks in the car so I could tell them "No".

 

[starry_solo]

Not quite...I noticed the traffic coming to a crawl and was able to get off to go on side streets.

However, I was stuck on side streets (another incident), taking 2 hours to go 3 miles between home and work. Backlog all over every side street due to something on the interstate Everyone was late that day to work, the ones that were able to make it in.