You can’t convince me that I-4 isn’t the worst road ever

I have an 80 mile daily commute from eastern Pasco County to south Tampa. I hate it. 

I live right off of US-19 in New Port Richey. I try to avoid 19 if at all possible.

https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/08/01/u-s--19-in-pasco-county-ranks-as-one-of-country-s-most-deadly-roads

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

Maybe it was my dude with the minibike. 

Unless the homie was a 300lb woman.....

I have a 35 year love-hate thing with I-4.
Living in Altamonte, working first in Lakeland, then Lake Mary, then Tampa, then at Disney, I've seen the good/bad/ugly,
I've endured so many construction cycles to 'fix' the problems ... I've lost count.

That said, as a traveling software consultant I've lived and commuted in traffic in Chicago, Atlanta, LA, Charlotte, Detroit, New York City, Newark, Miami, St Louis, San Francisco, Singapore, Frankfort, Medellin, and Jakarta.

They all sucked.

I again made it back from Thunderdome!

I-4 to Winter Park and back for Porsche night. 

Highlight: Watching a dude in a Cayenne use the decel lane to leap frog a few people.

Was it really that important? I’m thinking not because I passed you soon after by simply not driving like an animal. 

I always find it amazing how hard people try to get ahead, and how often I pass them by just....not doing a whole lot about it. 

Mndsm said:

I always find it amazing how hard people try to get ahead, and how often I pass them by just....not doing a whole lot about it. 

I know!! When I passed the Cayenne, I did a double take: Same car, same dude driving it. 

My strategy for making the pass: Just following the rules of the road. 

Lof8 - Andy said:

Yes, that stretch through west Volusia can be pretty good. Heads up that yesterday I saw FHP making several stops along that section. 

I hate I-4 with a passion. We simply have to blame the local gov't for approving the building of all the new homes in the area before updating the infrastructure for the pure hell of a driving experience that it is. The express lanes should have also been built from end to end. I remember when I could get from Seminole County to Sebring in 90 minutes. With the increased traffic and the amount of new lights on 27, taking the backroads through YeeHaw junction and the turnpike are much faster these days. 

With all that being said, I've lived in Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Antonio, and DC in the last decade. 

• The 405 in Seattle is a nightmare of epic proportions IMO. 
• The 405 in Los Angeles isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be but it still sucks if you're in a rush. 
• I always had more of a hatred for the 110, 610, and 710 in LA than the 405. 
• 95 in Miami is pure chaos. You've got grandparents driving 40 in the left lane, people utilizing the Italian driving style, and everything else in between. 
• No complaints about San Antonio other than the spaghetti being ridiculously hard to follow sometimes. 
• DC - the whole 95/495/270/66 enterprise. The absolute worst. 
• Highway 98 in the panhandle of Florida takes the cake. I've never seen more accidents and deaths than I have anywhere else. 
• And after my 10k mile road trip out west, New Mexico has some of the worst maintained roads west of the Mississippi. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Funny enough, I find the stretch north of downtown to 434 (my exit.. also the exit for Mr. B's... and CLEARLY the most important exit on i-4) to be pretty painless. Ones you start getting to downtown it gets rough. We usually hop the express lane and ride that train as far as we can though so there's never a huge amount of drama. 

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

That's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard.  I am definitely in.

RonnieFnD said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

That's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard.  I am definitely in.

I am violently interested in this. 

ESPECIALLY since I could walk there. 

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

Tell me more. 

Mndsm said:

RonnieFnD said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

That's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard.  I am definitely in.

I am violently interested in this. 

ESPECIALLY since I could walk there. 

Really? Okay. Do we tell Chad or just show up on a Saturday afternoon? 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

Tell me more. 

Mr. B’s: Longwood BMX shop owned by Chad DeGroot. He drives a Squareback. 

I should have gone to this. We did a pop-up at our local park a few years ago with him. He showed up with the pizza and a megaphone. Good times.  

David S. Wallens said:

Mndsm said:

RonnieFnD said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Mndsm :

We should do GRM day at Mr. B’s. 

That's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard.  I am definitely in.

I am violently interested in this. 

ESPECIALLY since I could walk there. 

Really? Okay. Do we tell Chad or just show up on a Saturday afternoon? 

I think we tell him. Partially because he's got really short hours these days, (like 11-4) partially because he's a 1 man operation I think? since covid, partially because sometimes he's not there at all (like when he berkeleys off to Japan to judge xgames flatland) and partially because then he brings his squareback. ALSO because then maybe other locals show up and other people get involved and blah blah blah. He's done several pop up jams that always work out, but there's always a least a LITTLE heads up.

Oh, yeah, I was kidding. I’d give him a heads-up. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

You never know. Can't trust nothin' on the internet. 

Mndsm said:

I always find it amazing how hard people try to get ahead, and how often I pass them by just....not doing a whole lot about it. 

This happens to me all the time.  I'm shocked at how often I see people pass on the right only to be immediately stuck behind someone they should have seen already.  Maybe they think it's random luck and it never occurred to them to, you know, look up first.

I’d say go to Mr. B’s on a Saturday, but I don’t have a free one until after Christmas. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

im 100% open to letting someone else plan this around their schedule. I'm usually pretty open, I don't think anyone lives closer than I do, and I am awful at planning anything beyond dinner. Usually not even that. 

And I should be clear that this wouldn’t be an official GRM event or anything even close to it. It would basically me giving you a heads-up when I’ll be there. :) 

i didn't figure anything more than that. 

I should add, there is an excellent wing spot like... next door to here.