"Bridge & Tunnel People"
Bridge and Tunnel People: Those who don't live in the City and have to take a bridge or a tunnel to get here (a derogatory term used by Manhattanites).
Bridges and Tunnels are very interesting and worthy of their own blog post. To get in and out of the city you have several options: Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Midtown Tunnel, Queensboro Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Triboro Bridge, Manhattan Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge. Most of these will allow you to get out of the City free of charge - but will charge you up to $6 to get back in. All have very convoluted twists and turns to converge traffic down to just a few lanes. We've been in a complete stand-still for over an hour trying to get out of Manhattan on Friday at 5:00. If given the choice I'd always choose a bridge. The feeling of being completely stopped in traffic in the middle of a two mile tunnel is unbelievably claustrophobic. The bridges aren't a cup of tea though either. Most are double-decker suspension bridges that can totally freak you out if you think about the number (and weight) of cars on there at any given time. It seems like they are perpetually doing work requiring scaffolding in the City and the bridges are no exception.
All that being said - the use of a bridge or tunnel is pretty infrequent in our lives but still sits in the back of my mind with thoughts popping up from time to time. Like for example - Can you imagine if a hurricane was predicted to hit NYC? Think of all 7 or 8 million people trying to leave by way of bridge or tunnel! Let's hope that never happens.
posted by brassellsinnyc @ 4:41 PM
