themeyerwire

This summer I chose to come home to Orlando for the summer since I had been in Gainesville for the past two years. It’s strange looking at the comparison between the cities. Some things are the same: alcohol is still popular medicine and/or social enhancer and I have churches that I go to in both cities that I like a lot. However there are many things that differ greatly (other than the significant population differences).

This is a tale of two cities, but it’s also a tale of I-4, because therein lies where I find most of the difference. The main road in Orlando has a varying speed limit between 55 and 70 miles per hour with the constant speed of traffic being somewhere 65+ no matter the posted speed limit (exceptions being during rush hour and when there are accidents). I was driving down I-4 the other morning going 75 in a 55 zone, and I was the slow one.

On the other hand, there is Gainesville. In Gainesville there are a few main roads, but you’re lucky if the posted speed limits reaches 45mph. Now, even when the posted speed limit hits 45, the speed of traffic is typically around 35mph . In Gainesville, it rarely matters where you are, you’ll be going 35mph. Even on the “side” streets in Orlando the average speed of traffic is close to 50.

Anyways, this difference has become apparent to me in the recent months as I’ve been living in Orlando doing an hour commute to work each day and I’ve also visited Gainesville a few times. During my hour commute to work in Orlando I may at times become annoyed by the traffic around me, but that’s typically because I’m somewhere in the vacuum between too slow and too fast. I can ride the left lane going 5mph faster than I want at 75, or I can be in the middle or right lanes going 5mph slower than I desire at 65mph. However, that is preferable to the pain in Gainesville of realizing I could be doing 50, but the traffic around me is only going 35mph.

Read the rest of this entry »