mood: BAD

Email sent a few minutes ago to Texas Dept. of Transportation:

I commute daily from Leander to Austin via Parmer Lane. Today traffic started backing up about a mile before Parmer intersects with Mopac. It took me 45 minutes to get from Mopac to IH-35 on Parmer. When I got to IH-35 I saw the cause of the backup was not a wreck, but that the lefthand lane was closed for construction, but there was no construction work going on and the lane was driveable.


I feel that it is unnecessary to have lane closures on major roads through Austin during peak rush hours if no construction is taking place at that time and there is no hazard in having the lane open. There were no signs up yesterday warning commuters that there would be such lane closures going on, so we were not able to plan ahead and take an alternate route to work. I was personally half an hour late to work, and I am sure there were many more people in my situation. If you are going to do such lane closures, please have the courtesy to give notice to commuters before the lane closure occurs.