Traffic Report

I hate traffic in New York City.

I had to take I-278 to I-495 to get from Brooklyn to Long Island for my interview was this morning.  Google informed me that it would take 25 minutes to get there, so I played it safe and left an hour in advance.  I was pretty satisfied with myself, until I got stuck in traffic for 40 minutes.

First, I saw a sign saying, "Car accident on I-495.  Two lanes closed."  The next one read, "Car accident on I-495.  All lanes closed."  Uh oh.  Finally, I came across a third one: "Road closed ahead.  Please find alternate route."

What?  What??  I know of no alternate routes on Long Island, because I HAVE NEVER DRIVEN HERE BEFORE.  I tried to call a bunch of my friends hoping they could direct me, but it happened to be 6:30 in the morning, so nobody was awake.  Finally I got through to Nosheen, who was able to find the phone number for the program coordinator so that I could at least tell them I was on my way and still planned on interviewing that day.

Luckily, I have a pretty good sense of direction, and I was able to get off of the highway and wander around some small streets until I could pick up I-495 again on the other side of the accident.  I actually made it to my interview day less than 15 minutes late, and several people showed up after me, having run into the same problem.  I am not alone!

And thanks to Michelle and Trevor for hosting me last night!