So Laredo - typically the temperature is well into the 100's when I'm here - and the sun blares down on you like you’re a french fry waiting to be served at a fast food restaurant. Today, with a steady wind, the temperature was 42 degrees. And it was raining - and dark. The locals were wrapped up like we were in the middle of a blizzard. And I hear that up in NYC it was in the 70's. Crazy.
Now I love Laredo - the people, the feel and despite today's temperature, the weather. If I didn't live in Florida, I would probably live here. But there is one major drawback that drives me nuts. It's not just a problem here locally, but all around Texas. That would be the design (and endless construction) of the highways.
The prime example of the stupidity in Laredo is exit 13 on I35. Go South and you get off at exit 13 for easy access to the Flying J, T/A and the Pilot. There are also hundreds of brokers here. And there is a very busy Union Pacific rail line on the East side. When a freight train comes through, especially at "rush hour", traffic is backed up. I mean really backed up.
The planners at the Texas DOT seemed to have given little or no serious thought to coming up with a better design of the intersecting roads at this exit. If you're going North from Mexico or downtown Laredo, exit 13 does not exist. Your GPS will tell you there is, but there isn't. And the signs for the truck stops don't inform you otherwise.
You need to get off at exit 12B. One can only wonder why the DOT couldn't have built a "typical" somewhat efficient exit where exit 13 should be. And, at what should be exit 13, which exists Southbound, but not Northbound, right next to the busy rail line, the road is terrible. A GM test track for Hummers is less rough. There is just no excuse for this. Especially since millions were spend "improving" I35 and "creating" a better exit 13.
Now Laredo is most definitely a truck town. So you would think that everything possible would have been done to improve the flow of traffic, especially at it pertains to trucks. But it wasn't. Again, millions of tax payer money was used to "improve" I35 through Laredo. And from what I've seen, for both cars and trucks, the efficient "flow" of traffic has gotten rapidly worse, with the new construction and redesign having no positive at all.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. I'm a part-time blogger and full-time OTR trucker, not an investigative newspaper reporter. I don't have the time or resources to pursue this further. But someone should. The highway improvements done in Laredo are shameful. The millions were not well spent. As the area grows and more and more freight moves though there, traffic will get worse. The roads weren't designed for the future, they reflect requirements of the past. There is time to correct this mess. Will they? I don't know. And for a place I love, it is a real disappointment.
The photo credit is: http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=25614
