Driving in Tempe, and the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, has gone from being beyond miserable to being outright unbearable.
One can't go two miles without it taking 10 or 15 minuets. If it's rush hour, expect a mile to take between 20 to 25 minutes.
Everywhere you look there's construction. Our perfect little grid is failing and the streets aren't prevailing. As a result, I've made a list of the five worst things about driving in the Valley:
- Five-second pauses at red lights. Please folks, look left, then right, then go. It is important to be safe, but green means go! This somewhat simple concept is often completely ignored by motorists.
- The grid. It seems impossible to argue against the grid. I understand its use; the entire city was designed like a "SimCity 2000" game, with streets nearly impossible to confuse. However, instead of all roads leading to Rome, only one or two do. This means that when a great portion of the city needs to travel to a similar destination, they all have to take exactly the same route. While proper city planning widens streets and plans for additional cars, the increase in population in this city and this state is more than planners could ever expect. Instead of alternate routes and unknown roads, Phoenix provides a few convenient but similar roads to travel.
- Lockdown. I believe Tempe is the closest American example to George Orwell's conception of Big Brother in his classic work "1984."
Everywhere you look, there are photo cameras, photo vans and photo red lights, all tied together in a city seemingly on lockdown. You could be sober as a bird driving down Tempe's roads and feel as if you just broke out of jail and are running from the law. Who could blame people for driving too cautiously in a city that gives the most citations in the Valley?
- The drivers. OK, so I'm going to assume you young college readers are not part of this, allowing me to be more critical. But I can't, because it's not just the elderly and retired, and it's not just the natives. It's a given that the retirement haven of Arizona adds drivers on the streets who probably shouldn't be allowed to walk unassisted. Adding drivers from many other states leads to a variety of driving styles and interpretation of laws.
- No unprotected left turns. This is the No. 1 worst part about driving in Phoenix. Some intersections do things with their lights that aren't even kosher in some states. Sometimes half an intersection will move, other times a quarter. It doesn't make any sense. And how is it that some lights in Tempe allow unprotected left turns, while some and most don't? Anyone who's ever tried to make a left turn from Apache Boulevard realizes how absurd it is to have to wait in the left turn bay. With all the cars and traffic, it's illogical not to allow unprotected left turns.
In a city such as Phoenix, driving might be the most stressful part of the day. Coupled with bad drivers and a ridiculous system, one can't help but be anxious about the construction of the light rail. Will traffic clear up or will the light rail add stops and additional traffic delays in our already clustered city?
I never thought I'd say this, but after a year of driving in Tempe, I wish I had my bike again.
As fed up as Josh is about inner city driving? Let him know at: jspivack@asu.edu.
