Increased traffic

There are three roads into the area where I work. I live on the other side of a river from work and there is also a freeway in-between. So I have to take one of two bridges over the river, and thankfully there are bike trails over and under the freeway on each route. So getting to work on my bike isn't much of a problem and I can ride a bike path roughly 2 of the 4 miles to work. That is such a pleasure to leave the car traffic and be on the bike path. But going to same 4 miles in the car is becoming more problematic than in the past. Certianly not impossible but more and more of a pain.

A big new factory just opened up. From what I understand they have around 400 employees. And soon another company is moving in with around 600 employees. I don't really understand that because they had a perfectly good building in a good location. But everyone wants to be in this location now. (just wait a few years and it will be a run down mess.) And at the same time vast amounts of new homes and apartments have been crammed in were there used to be fields with horses and crops.

It wouldn't be that bad except one new employee means one more car. We really felt the impact of all these cars getting in and out of this light industrial area when the first company moved in. Most of them go home at the end of each work day westbound, and fight to be in one lane to get on the freeway. The line of cars and trucks now extends for almost a mile. But some have figured out that if they go the wrong direction for a couple of miles it is sometimes faster. So now there is a big long line of traffic in the other direction, eastbound at that on-ramp. That is the direction I go when I drive my car as my house is in that direction and there used to be less traffic. And when the next company moves in this fall with 600 more employees it is going to be H going in either direction.

And still nobody is riding a bike to work, and very few people are taking the bus. And the answer to the problem; widen the roads to handle more cars, and raise taxes to pay for it. Oh yeah, there is a park and ride that is used for going out of the area and into the main city. And what do people do? They drive their car the few blocks to the park and ride instead of walking. At least they aren't parking on the sidewalks. The factories were required to have enough parking. But nothing was done about access to the freeway.