Me personally, can't say I am awfully bothered but there were a couple of things about it worth mentioning I thought. We are "lucky" to be in close proximity to a couple of event locations, one of them being this:
Going through the top of Toronto is the 401 Highway. It is one of the busiest highways in the country. "They" whomever they are have decided to make one lane in various parts an "HOV" lane.
"HOV," means a High Occupancy Vehicle Lane. Normally it means you have to have two or more occupants in your vehicle but from now until the end of the games you have to have three people in your vehicle or accredited Games vehicles used to transport athletes, media and technical officials.
Now obviously the locals are not happy about this, as the ones close to our daughter's means it goes from three lanes in the express to only two lanes and believe me it makes a HUGE difference not having that third lane. Yes there are the collector lanes, which is another three lanes, but the traffic back ups are bad. Even on Sunday the road was slow and very busy.
We observed that also a lot of people was using this lane with under the three person occupancy as stated. Other's were just using it as an over taking lane so all in all they were not taking a blind bit of notice of the rules.
It explains here in more detail which roads are affected etc. Locals have been told to take vacation or work from home if they can to avoid the extreme traffic congestion. Son-in-law luckily doesn't work too far from home, so shouldn't be too inconvenienced. Daughter though is going to work from home as she went to the office last week and it took forever to get there.
We can take a different route to our daughter's if we want to go down. Was pleased to see some major roadworks have wrapped up, so that will ease the traffic a little.
I hope for everyone's sake the games are a success so at least we recoup some of the money that has been forked out to host this; as I am quite sure we the tax payers are paying for all of this!
I will be back to regular blog posts tomorrow, as this sort of subject is just not my thing!
Oh and just in case you are wondering, no we won't be attending any of these events, but may watch highlights on the tv.
11 comments:
I thought everyone knew what those abbreviations meant !
Seriously though, we are expected to be psychic these days and just 'know' this stuff. The abbreviations people use on their blogs confuse me enough, I haven't a clue what the are talking about !
DB, DH, DG, DS, DGS, DD, DGD, OH, DGS1, DGS2, and so they go on, why don't people just write what they want to say ? I actually think it's very childish - like a secret code that schoolchildren use.
must be getting old ...
Gosh, life in your corner of the world has got complicated ! And yes, I do hope some money will come back to local people, rather than in some promoters' and sponsors' pockets ! xx
A waste of time and money all round,as far as I'm concerned.
Jane x
Oh, that sounds so like decisions made around here. I always wonder does any place recover what they spend on these things--be it Olympics, or anything. And you could not pay me enough to fight the traffic and do the waiting in line to go to any of this stuff. No ball game, no musician. I have always had a problem with having to wait and rush around to go no where.
We saw all the posted signage during out recent visit to Mississauga, Ontario, and were really very glad that we were there before these games started. And, yes, we heard about the 401 but thankfully avoided it based on our friend's warnings.
Isn't it just ridiculous! All for a sporting event! I think it's fairly insulting/offensive that the main part of their traffic plan is basically go away or stay home. What kind of plan is that? Lots of people (my sister at the stock brokerage included) don't have a work from home option. And not everyone has a cottage to escape to. I'm so glad we aren't in town visiting right now. When are the games over? We have to go down for the 18th.
One of the events is being held over in Milton, which is the town I went to high school in. Every time I pass through there now, it's changed even more.
I would probably just stay home for the duration. Seriously. I don't like bad traffic in normal times, I almost start hyperventilating. :-) And it all is a major inconvenience to the locals, who no one seems to care much about. Good luck!
Blessings,
Betsy
Those abbreviations do seem a little too oblique. The question is, will there be legacy and the sites not left to ruin? If so, then perhaps the investment is worth it. But I fear that these games are not quite major enough.
The Pan Am Games are not popular with everyone...and, for sure, the taxpayers will be paying for most of the billl in spite of what our politicians say. ;)
I wonder how many wrecks will result from people trying to consult their abbreviation key while driving and watching for signs?
It's hard to believe they would ask residents to put their regular lives on hold for this event. I also bet you are paying for it. I've heard that some cities never recoup the cost, which makes me wonder why any would want to do it.
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