Every town should have something that they are proud of.  Back in the 1950’s, my home town had a large billboard as you entered town that said, “Welcome to East St. Louis.  World’s Largest Hog Market.”  I was impressed, but not surprised.  That’s because when the wind blew from the North, you knew something big was going on.

Springfield, Virginia is a bedroom community in the greater Washington DC area.  What it has been known for is nothing to be proud of.  It was known for its Springfield Mixing Bowl.  The Mixing Bowl was where I-95, I-495 and I-395 came together.  The reason it was called the Mixing Bowl is because local traffic and interstate traffic had to fight their way across each others lanes.  Long delays would build up in all directions.  In the early 90’s, in one year, there were 179 accidents.  That’s just about one every other day.  Delays were bad without accidents.  With accidents, bring your lunch.  No one changed the radio station or talked on the phone while negotiation the Mixing Bowl.

During the time I worked in the Pentagon, We had to fight the Mixing Bowl every day.  While driving home, South on I-95, we had to cross two lanes of interstate traffic to exit in Springfield.  My carpool had strict rules for the Mixing Bowl.  The driver concentrated on the traffic in front of him, never looking back.  The person riding shotgun would announce when the driver could move to the right.  He would announce, “one lane.”  The driver would immediately pull one lane to the right.  This was repeated until we were in the Springfield exit lane.  The only other command for the shotgun rider was “two lanes,” but crossing two lanes at one time was considered the same as winning the lottery and was cause for celebration.

Now, the Springfield Mixing Bowl is history.  Something to tell the grandchildren about.  “Kids, back in 78′, your Grandpa spent four and a half hours stuck in the Mixing Bowl.”  “Golly Grandpa, did they have cars back in 78′?”

Fixing the Mixing Bowl took eight years and $676 million.  It was a remarkable project.  In fact, I commuted to DC throughout the project and never was delayed because of construction.  Confused, but never delayed.  They did have to shut down major arteries about six times.  But, they always did it late at night on weekends.  These events, which usually involved placing huge chunks of concrete into flyovers, drew large crowds of onlookers.  No, not me.  I was tucked away.

Now that it is done, let me tell you my pet peeves on the project.  These only apply to those of us coming out of Springfield.  We are traveling East on Old Keene Mill Road heading for I-95.  The I-95 intersection has everything backwards.  If you want to go right (South to Richmond), you must get in the left lane.  If you want to go left (North to DC), you must get in the right lane.  This is just the opposite of every interstate entrance and exit you can think of.

You can say, “Well, as long as it’s clearly marked, it shouldn’t be a problem.”  But, it isn’t clearly marked.  In fact, it is deceptively marked!  The overhead sign pointing to the lane for I-95 South is pointing at the white line between the two lanes (one lane going North, one South).  That’s right, the arrow points down at the white line between the lanes.  I have seen hundreds of cars change lanes at the last second.  I suspect thousands have just gone in the wrong direction.

I have studied this overhead sign (I am sure the traffic engineers have too).  You can’t move the sign over where it belongs, because that space is occupied by a large reinforcement to the overhead structure.  I know they know of the problem, because they have painted all kinds of directional information on the roadway.  Have you ever tried to read directional information on a roadway when cars are bumper to bumper?  It’s tricky.  It may work on the interstate, but not on Old Keene Mill Road during rush hour.

I know how to fix the problem.  I have studied the sign every time I pass it.  All they need to do is tilt the sign.  Tilting the sign will move the arrow so it points to the correct lane!  It sounds easy, but I am sure there is some regulation against tilting directional signs.  Some state transportation attorney will mention the word, “liability,” and that will be the end of that.  I’ve thought about doing it myself.  It would probably guarantee me my 15 minutes of fame.  But, I am fearful that if I get up that high, my nose will bleed.