Is Anyone Scared Of Driving In Omaha?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:23 pm

Bugeater wrote:I hate driving downtown. Went for 23 years without an accident, got a job downtown and got in two accidents in a year and a half's time. Buncha clueless idiots down there.

Considering no one that lives downtown drives downtown...

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:55 pm

Bugeater wrote:I hate driving downtown. Went for 23 years without an accident, got a job downtown and got in two accidents in a year and a half's time. Buncha clueless idiots down there.

For me it was in the vicinity of my high school. Two out of the three crashes I've been in were on the perimeter road in front of Millard West.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:12 am

It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:30 am

RNcyanide wrote:It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.

It's not cheap to build roads.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 am

jessep28 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.
It's not cheap to build roads.

Yeah, and it doesn't help that the majority of those areas are outside the city limits either.

LookingGlass · Post by **LookingGlass** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:16 pm

I grew up in NE Illinois and frequently drove in Chicago and the surrounding area. Â Omaha is GREAT compared to there. Â We have it easy here. Â I do avoid the interstate and surrounding during the rush-hour. Â I don't have patience anymore for sitting in traffic.
Funny thing I noticed was in Illinois, people drive 10-20 over all the time. Â Here, being 5 or 10 under is no big deal.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:42 pm

Harrison from 147th to 157th is on Sarpy's 6 year plan. I'm sure there are delays because it's a shared Sarpy/Douglas/Omaha project.

http://www.sarpy.com/countyboard/resolu ... 0-2016.PDF

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:59 am

jessep28 wrote:Harrison from 147th to 157th is on Sarpy's 6 year plan. I'm sure there are delays because it's a shared Sarpy/Douglas/Omaha project.

http://www.sarpy.com/countyboard/resolu ... 0-2016.PDF

Oh goodie. At least they're thinking of it...

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:28 am

Brad wrote:I am not scared to drive on the streets in Omaha...

One the other hand, I am scared as heck to drive in parking lots! People get crazy when they turn off the street in to the parking lot.

Totally agree. Â I have driven in midtown Manhattan at rush hour, ditto San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Minneapolis (oops, had an accident there), and I lived, and commuted, for a period of time in metro DC. Â None of them bothered me all that much. Â Now, Chicago is a completely different story. Â A 2,000 square mile parking lot. Â I just hate driving there. Â But even that isn't as bad as navigating a typical Omaha grocery store parking lot.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:20 pm

I swear every time there's major construction where traffic overflows into surrounding neighborhoods, the news runs a story about speeding cars.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Deto ... 17021.html

Post by **BRoss** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:24 pm

RNcyanide wrote:
jessep28 wrote:Harrison from 147th to 157th is on Sarpy's 6 year plan. I'm sure there are delays because it's a shared Sarpy/Douglas/Omaha project.

http://www.sarpy.com/countyboard/resolu ... 0-2016.PDF
Oh goodie. At least they're thinking of it...

Yeah, and they "thought" they were going to widen 168th between Pacific and Q back in 2007. I don't really trust their time tables.

mrsticka · Post by **mrsticka** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:54 pm

RNcyanide wrote:
jessep28 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.
It's not cheap to build roads.
Yeah, and it doesn't help that the majority of those areas are outside the city limits either.

Not anymore.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:19 pm

mrsticka wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:
jessep28 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.
It's not cheap to build roads.
Yeah, and it doesn't help that the majority of those areas are outside the city limits either.
Not anymore.

Wasn't that the big idea after the disappointing numbers from the 2010 census? To annex more of the neighborhoods out west and bump up our population?

mrsticka · Post by **mrsticka** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:16 pm

RNcyanide wrote:
mrsticka wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:
jessep28 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:It's sort of surprising how awful the traffic in West Omaha is on streets like 168th and 180th or Harrison west of 144th where they have one lane in each direction. The population out there exploded and the city or county never took the time to upgrade the streets. So you get some poor guy trying to turn left into a neighborhood and traffic backs up a mile.
It's not cheap to build roads.
Yeah, and it doesn't help that the majority of those areas are outside the city limits either.
Not anymore.
Wasn't that the big idea after the disappointing numbers from the 2010 census? To annex more of the neighborhoods out west and bump up our population?

Can't say for sure. Â But I do know that Omaha's pretty much for all intents and purposes, annexed Elkhorn. Â Gretna, not yet. Â But someday, they will. Â When we lived in Omaha in the mid-to-late 80's and early 90's, my dad would ride his bicycle on Center past 168th from time to time and back then, there was nothing out there. Â It was still the boonies. Â But now it's been urbanized.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:25 pm

Omaha would have to be allowed to annex into Sarpy County for that to happen.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:01 pm

jessep28 wrote:Omaha would have to be allowed to annex into Sarpy County for that to happen.

I remember when they tried to rewrite the annexation laws to allow that, what, like 6-7 years ago; it didn't go too well.

mrsticka · Post by **mrsticka** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:13 am

Oh, right. Â When I posted that, I'd forgotten for a second that Gretna was in Sarpy County. Â My fault. Â Sorry.

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:35 am

Annexing is a bit of a problem these days. Â Most SIDs have too much debt (suburbia is expensive to build). Â The ones that do get annexed are generally VERY marginal or happen to have sales tax that the City needs to keep inside its boundaries. Â The development of the arterial roads has not kept up, despite requiring the initial developers to fund a continually higher share of those improvements. Â Some of the worst spots, like 168th, were not improved at all with initial development.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:27 pm

jessep28 wrote:I swear every time there's major construction where traffic overflows into surrounding neighborhoods, the news runs a story about speeding cars.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Deto ... 17021.html

Wouldn't be such a problem if they'd layed-out more streets in West O on a grid. Instead, we have all these neighborhoods with only one or two ways out of a large area.

Back on the main topic, just spend some time driving in Atlanta, and you'll appreciate how much easier we have it in Omaha....Although southwest O is getting worse every year...I try to avoid it.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:51 pm

GetUrban wrote:
jessep28 wrote:I swear every time there's major construction where traffic overflows into surrounding neighborhoods, the news runs a story about speeding cars.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Deto ... 17021.html
Wouldn't be such a problem if they'd layed-out more streets in West O on a grid. Instead, we have all these neighborhoods with only one or two ways out of a large area.

Back on the main topic, just spend some time driving in Atlanta, and you'll appreciate how much easier we have it in Omaha....Although southwest O is getting worse every year...I try to avoid it.

It wouldn't be so bad if the lights weren't run by sadists.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:08 pm

Idiot this morning! Northbound on 120th., about to turn right onto service road by Fox And Hound. Light was red and the "No Right Turn" sign was on. He blows his horn. I roll down the window and point to the No Right Turn sign. He just lays on his horn!

Jeesh!

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 2:16 pm

Omababe wrote:Idiot this morning! Northbound on 120th., about to turn right onto service road by Fox And Hound. Light was red and the "No Right Turn" sign was on. He blows his horn. I roll down the window and point to the No Right Turn sign. He just lays on his horn! Jeesh!

Several years ago I was sitting in the right lane at a light on 72nd St. coming home from class at UNO. There was no turn lane. This car pulls up behind me and starts laying on its horn. Obviously he wanted to turn right. He tried to sneak past my car but couldn't so he jumped the curb to get around me. The light turned green like 5 seconds later.

mrsticka · Post by **mrsticka** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:06 am

Was this on 72nd and Dodge?

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:16 am

mrsticka wrote:Was this on 72nd and Dodge?

It's been several years, but I think it was 72 and Mercy.

mrsticka · Post by **mrsticka** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:34 pm

That intersection used to be kind of goofy. Southbound 72nd used to be crooked through there. Â Almost like a roundabout, but not quite. Â It got straightened out in the early 90's.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:44 pm

I got a good laugh out of this. Who gets sued if his amateur street repair doesn't hold up and some skateboarder gets hurt?

Elkhorn man fixes cracks, potholes on city street

Post by **Brad** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:54 pm

jessep28 wrote:I got a good laugh out of this. Who gets sued if his amateur street repair doesn't hold up and some skateboarder gets hurt?

Elkhorn man fixes cracks, potholes on city street

I bet its all popped out by next spring.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:48 pm

The other day, I witnessed a lady turning out of Oakview Drive going to eastbound W Center Road. She was on her phone and I guess she didn't notice that she turned too wide and ended up in the left turn lane of the wrong lane of traffic. Instead of hopping the curb (she drove a low-setting Acadia) she put her right turn signal on and sat there.

Hilarious.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:31 am

Yesterday a man was killed on Interstate 80 near 52nd Street after his car broke down and he got out of the car. I don't know all the details and I am not specifically referring to this instance, I just just another reminder of something I just don't understand.

Why do people pull over on the left shoulder in the middle of the interstate? I know there are times that if you car had a bad breakdown and you were in heavy traffic and you just can't make it to the right shoulder. However I see people all the time that for whatever reason, pull over to the left shoulder in the middle of the interstate... Flat Tire, Police Stop, Checking a load, etc, I just don't get why anyone would pull over on that side. It's so much more dangerous.

The left lanes usually have higher speeds, your are stuck on an island of speeding cars with no way off, you are up against a rock solid barrier that wouldn't move if someone ran in to you.

The right shoulder usually has lower speeds, you can safely get to an exit ramp if you need to walk, you can even put 2 tires in the grass in a lot of situations. Not to mention if traffic is dangerous, you can step back from the road a ways.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:42 am

Brad, and this is the honest to gods truth... there's just a lot of really stupid people.

The man that died, I have no idea what the circumstances were, and maybe he was unable to pull his car to the right side of the interstate.

But most cases, it's just really stupid people who should not be allowed to drive. The best example is watching morons who have been pulled over by a cop, and they panic. They will stop dead in their tracks, interstate, intersection, or block and off ramp.

This is one reason why I'm becoming increasingly in favor of mass transit, and to encourage a more thorough DMV process to scrutinize those who should and should not have a driver's license.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:59 am

I also remember this winter when someone had car troubles on the West Dodge Expressway and got out of their car. I believe the man was standing on the side of the expressway and was hit and killed.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 1:17 am

One thing that always blows me away about Omaha are the hand-made "in transit" signs people tape on their back windows----WOW? There are bad drivers everywhere in the country. It's just too easy to get a driver's license in most states.

bargainhunter · Post by **bargainhunter** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:02 am

Brad, you are absolutely 100% correct. Even pulling over to the right side of the road for anything other than an emergency is dangerous. I see people pull over to use the phone, check loads, etc on the right too and it is also dangerous. There is no reason to pull over on the left side, unless as you state, there is no way to make it to the right.
People also seem to have no basic understanding of traffic flow either. Jutting into the left lane at speeds significantly slower than flow of traffic, slowing on the interstate to exit, changing lanes without signalling, not going with the flow of traffic, etc. Then there are the vigilantes that seem to think it is their duty to patrol the roads. Don't get me started there! Maybe there needs to be some review you have to go through every time you renew your license. There are people out there that have no business driving. It's not a right, it's a privilege.

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