[erickonphoenix]

A buddy of mine just got back from Oregon and on the way to the airport got stuck in a three hour traffic jam when a log truck hit an overpass. Needless to say he missed his flight and a couple of times he had to take a piss on the side of the road. He was in a rental so none of the emergency essentials I would usually keep in the boot.

My personal record is four hours, when a dump truck ran into a car swerving to get in a toll lane. The resulting fatality shut the toll road down until the accident investigation was over. I didn't have a call of nature, I just took a long nap. But imagine how weird it is sleeping in your car on the highway only to wake up and realize nothing has moved.

[M_Six]

Christmas 2008. Or a few days before. New England had been hard hit with snow for the weeks prior to Xmas, so a lot of folks weren't able to get out to shop. Everyone went out a few days before to grab last minute stuff. I mean *EVERYONE*. We drove out from here and had a mostly uneventful trip until we hit the Connecticut border. Traffic started to get heavy right at the border and when we hit Danbury, it was stopped. We sat and sat and sat. Wifey was about to bust, so I got onto the first off-ramp we came to. It took us over an hour just to go down the ramp. Then another 30 minutes to find a parking spot to go into a restaurant. Then another hour or so before we got to eat. Then I tried to take some backroads to avoid the highway, but it was clearly just as bad. I turned into a neighborhood just so I could reverse direction and even those roads were bumper to bumper. I'd say it took us about 5 hours to go from the west edge of Danbury to the east edge.

[zx10guy]

My worst was just this past Summer. Someone that wanted to get attention decided to climb up on one of the support members for the Bay bridge. I was stuck in the parking lot that was Rt 50 for 3 hours. What was worse was I had to get my daughter back to her mother that day per our custody agreement. A trip from my beach house to my primary house that would have taken 2.5 hours with light traffic took me over 6 hours. I was glad my daughter didn't have any bio moments while we sat there.

Even worse was the idiotic response of MDOT. Those fools were dealing with this character the night before at 6PM. The idiots of MDOT didn't reroute traffic in the morning. All they put up was there was police activity on the bridge and there were going to be delays. Can you get any more vague? Then to make matters worse, after a while, the genius again at MDOT were shutting down ramps to get OFF of Rt50 but were not shutting down ramps to get ON Rt 50. So those fools were adding to the traffic mess.

Oh and the attention getter decided to do it again a couple of months later.

[DETRoadster]

6 hour traffic jamb back in about 1985 coming back from Eastern Washington over the mountain pass to Seattle. No cell phones back then, no real time traffic data, no Internet. Nothing. So no one knew the cause, when it would start moving again, or if there was an alternate route. So we all just sat there. Not knowing was the worst part of it.

I narrowly missed an all-nighter last winter coming back from skiing. heavy wet snow and high winds were laying trees down on the highway at such an alarming rate that they actually closed a couple mile stretch of the road, trapping people in their vehicles for the night. WSDOT wouldn't sent their crews in because it was too dangerous. We were the 2nd vehicle on the scene to encounter a freshly fallen tree that blocked both lanes of the 2 lane highway. Luckily we were pretty well prepared to ride it out in the van for the night if we needed. The guy in front of us had a chane saw and a winch so we made quick work of it and got the Hell out of there. Got home about 2 hours later and learned they had closed that stretch of road an hour prior. So we missed the lockdown by an hour or less.

[tdott]

Snow storm somewhere on PA driving back to Canada when I was a kid. We got stuck on the thru-way over night until the national gaurd came to dig us out and turn us around and went back the other way.

Don't think I ever found out what happened but something bad must have happened up ahead.

My dad had a diesel S-class and had just filled up, so we had heat thru the night. It was a fun road trip.

[Maynard]

First thought was: Chicago, pretty much any time I've had to pass through.

[MKSixer]

Hurricane Katrina. 6 hours to go 2 miles.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Hurricane Katrina. 6 hours to go 2 miles.

I had 2 in mind, but then I read MK's and they didn't seem relevant. In fact they were insignificant.

[Fly320s]

I got stuck on eastbound I-40 near Jackson, TN for 8 hours back in 1998.

One semi crossed the grass median and hit another semi head on. Both trucks completely destroyed and a few other cars caught up in it. The eastbound lanes were closed for 8 hours for the cleanup. Unfortunately, I was past the last available exit and the median was too steep to try to cross. No where to go.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

I had 2 in mind, but then I read MK's and they didn't seem relevant. In fact they were insignificant.

Kind of you to say so, Jim. We all have different challenges at different times. What were yours?

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Kind of you to say so, Jim. We all have different challenges at different times. What were yours?

Since you asked.

Early 90's living in Mesa Az and working in far North Scottsdale I would take the Beeline Highway through Fountain Hills to and from work. One day on the way home, the Beeline was backed up and practically stopped for a big accident. No way on or off. About 3 hours on that 12 mile stretch. Funny part was, there was a truck pulled over and a guy taking a leak on the side of the road. I hollered at him that when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! I then let him back in to traffic when he was ready. As soon as he pulled in, he pulled back over and backed up to me, got out and handed me 2 beers.

Second was in San Diego in maybe 2012. I worked down by the border and lived in far North county, 55 miles each way. There was a county wide power outage about 3:30 PM. All traffic lights were out, and the freeways were all a mess. About 4-1/2 hours for those 55 miles.

Thanks for asking, but still nothing like yours!

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Since you asked.

Early 90's living in Mesa Az and working in far North Scottsdale I would take the Beeline Highway through Fountain Hills to and from work. One day on the way home, the Beeline was backed up and practically stopped for a big accident. No way on or off. About 3 hours on that 12 mile stretch. Funny part was, there was a truck pulled over and a guy taking a leak on the side of the road. I hollered at him that when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! I then let him back in to traffic when he was ready. As soon as he pulled in, he pulled back over and backed up to me, got out and handed me 2 beers.

Second was in San Diego in maybe 2012. I worked down by the border and lived in far North county, 55 miles each way. There was a county wide power outage about 3:30 PM. All traffic lights were out, and the freeways were all a mess. About 4-1/2 hours for those 55 miles.

Thanks for asking, but still nothing like yours!

Great stories!!

I think I'd rather be parked than the stop and go as you just described. Stuck is stuck...you resign yourself to your fate. Moving slowly like that is deeply frustrating as you believe that you are finally free then...BACK to STOPPED.
I hate it!!!

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Great stories!!

I think I'd rather be parked than the stop and go as you just described. Stuck is stuck...you resign yourself to your fate. Moving slowly like that is deeply frustrating as you believe that you are finally free then...BACK to STOPPED.
I hate it!!!

and I did have beer, sooo...

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

and I did have beer, sooo...

Turning lemons into lemonade!!

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Turning lemons into lemonade!!

Always do! No other way to go through life, my friend!

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Always do! No other way to go through life, my friend!

Well said!!

[vreihen16]

Back in 1989, I spent the better part of a day sitting at a dead stop on the Garbage State Parking Lot around Bloomfield, NJ. I was ferrying a Yugo between family members as a favor, and was handed Parkway toll tokens for the trip. (I would have taken the Turnpike if it was my car, even if it was a longer drive and cost more.)

There was a popup thunderstorm in front of me, and anyone familiar with the Parkway at that time knows that there was an underpass around mile marker 145 (East Orange) that was notorious for flooding. I sat there for hours at a dead stop, engine off, on a sunny afternoon. Remembering that this was 1989 and cell phones were a car-mounted novelty, I was glad that I did a portable installation of my car phone for this trip. (This was probably the only Yugo in the world with a car phone.)

Anyway, there was a van being driven by a clown (you can't make this stuff up) stuck in the lane next to me, and he saw me making a call on the car phone to say that I was going to be late for dinner so don't wait for me. He was on the way to a kid's birthday party with a van full of cake and ice cream, and asked if he could use my phone to cancel the gig because he obviously wasn't going to make it there. A few minutes later, he came back over and offered me a chocolate ice cream cone and a soda to drink. After that, he decided to throw a party for everyone who was stuck there, giving out the ice cream and other stuff before it melted or went bad. He even did his clown show!

While it was most certainly the worst traffic jam I've ever been in (and I still have two Parkway tokens to remember it by), how many people can say that they attended a kid's birthday party in the middle of the Parkway with a performing clown, ice cream, cake, and soda?

Oh, in case anyone was curious, I arrived at my destination shortly before midnight...and stopped at White Castle for the dinner that I was 6+ hours late for.....

[M_Six]

Speaking of traffic jams...from this most recent storm in PA:

[hubbahubba]

^^ Holy crap.

[NickyC]

Rush hour in Doral on 87th would routinely take me 60-90 minutes to go the two miles from my office to the apartment. Never seen anything like it, and hopefully never will again as I'm outtttttta there.

[MBM340]

I have a 22 mile commute to get to work every day (in DC) that if no one crashes takes me 90 minutes. Every day is my worst traffic day.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by MBM340

I have a 22 mile commute to get to work every day (in DC) that if no one crashes takes me 90 minutes. Every day is my worst traffic day.

My commute through DC metro area traffic was 40 to 50 miles one way. Did that for 12 years. Was glad the Govie manager allowed me to have flex time where I would come in late and close up the office. Managed to put 176k miles in 8 years on a 2006 Focus bought new.