Highway Collapse…Commuter’s Nightmare
Life is strange. Not in any eccentric way, but the highway 580 Freeway collapse is coincidental to my recent decision to stop driving so much.
I’ve been a highway commuter for the past 8 months, driving from Oakland to Berkley in the mornings, into San Francisco in the afternoons, and back to Oakland in the evenings. It’s a very lonely experience for me, since I have for the most of my life relied on public transportation as the primary mode of travel. Even when I have NPR or my Ipod on the car radio, nothing beats the opportunity to strike up a random conversation about music, bicycles, how good the Warriors are, who’s the best Shorstop in baseball, or where the best Indian food is with someone on the subway or bus.
Well, I am also lucky to have timed my job switch around this time. I’ll now use my bike and BART to get around, so the highway collapse will not be a problem for my commute, which it would have been if I were staying at my current job. Haven’t heard yet, but commuters returning to the East Bay from San Francisco will all have to deal with either 880 or 80, and do without 580 which goes through Oakland, into Castro Valley, Dublin, etc.