Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night • Hacker News Board

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#471

Post by SllX » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:13 AM UTC

justapassenger wrote: post #465

flavius29663 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of DC was that it won't be in any state. That was the sole reasoning for creating those 100 square miles. Maryland could take back it's half like Virginia did https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_retrocess... , but creating a state out of a piece of land specifically designated as non-state doesn't make sense.

That’s not a reasonable argument for any position. Just because few hundred years ago something was designed differently isn’t a reason not to change it.

Well the parent proposed something perfectly reasonable: retrocession back into Maryland. This would wholly resolve their lack of Congressional representation and Maryland would gain a House seat, or maybe two if they were already on the threshold for another.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#472

Post by jimmaswell » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:13 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #128

mrfusion wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those extra people are choosing to be there so there must be some benefit.

> But those extra people are choosing to be there so there must be some benefit. As long as your roads are saturated, they have less throughput, not more. It is kind of like a clog in your toilet: more things are there in your pipes, but not much is getting through.

If your city sewer is clogged, so you widen it, then more people install toilets in their houses and bring the sewer back to capacity, I think that's still a win.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#473

Post by imgabe » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:14 AM UTC

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #396

There are a lot of comments here about why public transit in the DC area doesn't work, but nobody that I've seen has put their finger on it. The biggest issue is that the area covers two states, at least ten counties depending on what you count as the “DC area”, plus the District of Columbia, which isn't a state, doesn't have control over its own budget, and has no representation in Congress. Oh, and in Virginia citi…

I lived in the DC area for 20 years (1999-2019) and commuted daily on the Metro for many of those years. The things you say are true, but they were also true 15-20 years ago when the Metro was leaps and bounds better than it is today. They were true in the 1970s when the Metro was first built. So it can't be the whole story. There's much more to it. It's not just that the Metro is bad, it's that it keeps getting worse and worse.

There's decades of deferred maintenance. This is probably due to funding problems because of what you're talking about, but the Metro is in a hole that it might not be able to dig itself out of unless someone takes it seriously and commits a lot of money and effort.

The WMATA is incompetent. I don't know how else to put it. Like, why are you even running 6-car trains at all during rush hour? The system is treated like a jobs program to give make-work jobs for people who would otherwise be unemployed. I'm sure some of the workers are dedicated and care, but many don't seem to. Try asking a station attendant to use the bathroom that's supposed to be publicly available and watch the annoyance that you have dared to inconvenience them.

The collision in 2009 caused them to switch to manual braking and they just...never switched back. Whatever problem there was with the automatic braking system, they decided to just give up on it instead of fixing it. It's minor, but it slows things down.

It's not like public transit in DC is impossible. It used to work, if not perfectly, much much better than it does today.

DC needs to be a state. It's unconscionable that it isn't and the rights of 680,000+ US citizens are ignored because it isn't politically expedient to give them the representation they're due. That would help a lot. DC could control its own budget and negotiate on equal footing with MD and VA.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#474

Post by mschuster91 » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:16 AM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #466

flavius29663 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of DC was that it won't be in any state. That was the sole reasoning for creating those 100 square miles. Maryland could take back it's half like Virginia did https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_retrocess... , but creating a state out of a piece of land specifically designated as non-state doesn't make sense.

does the establishment of washington dc as an unrepresented area make sense today in 2022? it has over 700,000 residents and its own school system… since its inception it has struggled time and time again due to its awkward status… the people living there want it overwhelmingly!

> does the establishment of washington dc as an unrepresented area make sense today in 2022?

Many things in the US political system don't make sense in 2022, especially from an European point of view - mining and water rights, inequality of rural and urban votes because of unproportional representation in the Senate, Presidential votes in "stronghold" states being effectively wasted thanks to the Electoral College, the effective two-party system caused by the effects of FPTP, the fact that the US votes on Tuesday because of farmers going to church on Sunday in Ye Olde Days, the entire gun rights complex (it was reasonable and made sense back in Ye Olde Days that everyone could own a handgun and a hunting rifle, it was not anticipated that civilians would be able to own weapons of war), the fact that "gerrymandering" is not only a thing but actively and maliciously used, the general lack of federal protections for voters, that "union busting" is legal, the weirdness that is how DC and the US Territories are set up... the list is endless, that's just what came up in my mind in five minutes.

The problem is, the US and the UK are the only geopolitically relevant (sorry, Australia and Canada) countries in the Western sphere that haven't had a revolution and/or WW1/2 in the last century to re-set and modernize their constitution, power balance and judicial precedence - and that lack is really, really showing. It's no coincidence that the US and the UK are the Western countries hit the hardest by the rise of populist demagogues.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#475

Post by GVIrish » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:17 AM UTC

pirate787 wrote: post #450

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #396

There are a lot of comments here about why public transit in the DC area doesn't work, but nobody that I've seen has put their finger on it. The biggest issue is that the area covers two states, at least ten counties depending on what you count as the “DC area”, plus the District of Columbia, which isn't a state, doesn't have control over its own budget, and has no representation in Congress. Oh, and in Virginia citi…

Arlington VA is a county, not a city, and has the land area and tax base of a county. Indeed Arlington is perhaps the most successful build out of mass transit in a community in the United States in the last 30 years. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/arlingt... Also the DC metro system is in fact organized across state lines and receives generous federal subsidies....DC Metro spends $4.7 billion a…

> The primary issue this week is that this section of Virginia rarely sees snowstorms of this magnitude and further most DC residents have no idea how to drive in it (or know when to stay home).

That's not really it. We get snowstorms of this size once every 2 or 3 years, sometimes more. The problem is that somehow they didn't keep up with plowing and salting on that stretch of I-95, and that led to back-ups, and once that happened, there was no way to prevent ice from forming on the road. An exacerbating factor was that it was raining before the snow event, so they weren't able to pre-salt/brine the roads.

Notice that the major traffic jam was on I-95 South outside of the beltway, it wasn't on the outer loop, inside DC, or in Maryland even though the storm blanketed the area.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#476

Post by sneak » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:21 AM UTC

pengaru wrote: post #374

emptybottle wrote: post #73

A good reminder to keep some warm blankets/coats/gloves/hats in your trunk, along with some non-perishable snacks and a first-aid kit & flashlight. Water is harder to store in the winter since it will freeze and burst containers if full, but snow can be melted given a container to put it in. Also a good to refuel often. I try treat 1/2 a tank as empty and stop accordingly. On longer trips it lines up well with bathro…

Regardless of how well prepared you are to comfortably hunker down in your vehicle, unless you're truly in no mans land without any reachable alternatives for shelter, it's best to lock up the vehicle with a note on the dash and make your way to a shelter out of harms way. Preferably by way of a route that is not along the road, even if it's more difficult. It's never safe to be arbitrarily stopped on a road, even if…

> Regardless of how well prepared you are to comfortably hunker down in your vehicle, unless you're truly in no mans land without any reachable alternatives for shelter, it's best to lock up the vehicle with a note on the dash and make your way to a shelter out of harms way.

Nah, cars have climate control and can generate DC power for electronics for many hours at idle. Best to stay in the vehicle.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#477

Post by _muff1nman_ » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:22 AM UTC

pengaru wrote: post #446

lazyasciiart wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a note for locations actually not varying that much and this is generally terrible advice: people die of exposure doing this in the US and everyone ever asked from search and rescue will tell you to stay in your car unless it is actively going underwater or falling off a cliff.

It's qualified with unless you're genuinely isolated and there's no reasonably accessible shelter away from traffic. i.e. If you're stuck on the shoulder of a snowy/icy highway and there's a walking distance Motel 6 visible, go straight to the hotel and make your phone calls there. A road is a terrible place to camp, your occupancy has zero influence on the probability of the vehicle getting hit, though it may feel l…

This is still really bad advice. There was a recent instance not a year ago where folks were stuck with 3 feet of snow at night on an interstate interchange. Yes there was a hotel not a mile from where they were but getting out of your car to cross the interstate in 3 feet of snow is a great way to get hit or get lost in the blizzard and get some good hypothermia. Compare this to staying in their car where they were picked up by highway patrol in a snow cat a few hours later and taken to a shelter. And its not some stroke of luck either, highway patrol knows to go look for people in their cars with the snow cat and do it nearly every year. They do not know to look for you in a drift of snow over the side of the highway.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#478

Post by tmnvix » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:24 AM UTC

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #405

QuarterReptile wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be an explanation for why the metro isn't better in DC, but not the source of the area's problems. Outside the city, most of the area is set up below the intensity of viable urban fabric and is entirely focused on cars. In that system, transit is just an attempt to set up satellite traffic jams where people then spend extra time commuting afterward. You can't have successful transit while favoring cars. And…

That's because in order for public transit to work it has to cover the place the people work. Which is mostly in DC. Virginia isn't going to pay for public transit in DC. Maryland isn't going to pay for public transit in DC. Whereas what they will absolutely do is pay for roads in their own states. And DC can’t pay for public transit in DC because it’s tax base isn’t big enough. It isn't so much “favoring cars” as it…

> And DC can’t pay for public transit in DC because it’s tax base isn’t big enough.

How does DC pay for roads?

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#479

Post by chiph » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:25 AM UTC

xattt wrote: post #464

obmelvin wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little extra reason to refuel your car sooner rather than later is that the fuel pump will be stressed more as the tank approaches empty.

Where is the additional stress from? Lack of weight from fuel above to push it through the fuel lines?

An in-tank pump is typically cooled by being immersed in the liquid gasoline. When the gas level drops too low the pump gets less cooling.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#480

Post by PickledHotdog » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:29 AM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #474

micromacrofoot wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

does the establishment of washington dc as an unrepresented area make sense today in 2022? it has over 700,000 residents and its own school system… since its inception it has struggled time and time again due to its awkward status… the people living there want it overwhelmingly!

> does the establishment of washington dc as an unrepresented area make sense today in 2022? Many things in the US political system don't make sense in 2022, especially from an European point of view - mining and water rights, inequality of rural and urban votes because of unproportional representation in the Senate, Presidential votes in "stronghold" states being effectively wasted thanks to the Electoral College, t…

Don't forget little old Australia