The Woes of a Vegas Commuter

Las Vegas used to be a city where it only would take 15 to 20 minutes to get to your destination from wherever you were. No such luck these days. In fact, driving from one end of town to the other is a trek in itself that most prefer to avoid. I should know. My house is in the Northwest end of Vegas, so far northwest that it takes only 20 or so minutes to reach Mt. Charleston, where the local ski resort is located. Vegas locals often refer to the Northwest neighborhood as "Southern Utah," or the even more popular "BFE."

Yes, I live there.

Just to give you all a little more perspective, I reside 25 miles away from my place of employment. The majority of days, I'm on the road an average of 55 minutes - one way. Aside from driving during rush hour, what complicates my route is that I must travel the worst two highways running through this city that are easily the most travelled by visitors and locals alike. Both freeways are poorly engineered, ill-planned considering the rate of growth in the past decade, and riddled with long-term construction obstacles. In fact, for as long as I've lived here, I can't remember a time when neither highway did not have some construction project going on.

Yes, I drive this.

Sure, I've spent some time trying to find effective detours on surface streets which have temporarily helped alleviate the anxiety of dealing with the highway traffic, but the drive time is just as long, if not longer. The trade-off is just as agonizing. The truth of the matter is, it's a lose-lose situation for me that I have come to accept (someone call the friggin' waaaaambulance). I think of other major metropolitan cities that have it far worse: my boss used to commute to work in Atlanta upwards of 4 hours everyday, round-trip; Southern California roads are perpetually plagued by traffic; and from what I hear, traffic congestion in the North East puts West Coast traffic to shame. Considering all this, my grumbling and self-pity for what I deal with on a daily basis is unfounded. However, there are days when commuting takes its evil toll on me, and I spend all day being grouchy, like today.

Yes, I hate it.