Smart Commute

Earlier this year my office moved 60 blocks south.  This is problematic for my commute.  Previously, I was able to avoid the highway and take side streets to my office.  This is no longer a practical option.  My office is now far enough away that there is really no way to avoid the highway.

There's a stretch of road on my way to work that due to the nature of how it is designed gets backed up daily.  This is usually a minor inconvenience as the delay is small and expected.  However, if there is even a minor fender-bender or if a cop has someone pulled over or if it is raining/snowing, etc., my commute time can double.  This obviously isn't acceptable.  The trouble is, I already give myself about 40 minutes to get to work.  If the commute goes smoothly it typically takes 30-35 minutes.  Since the major slowdowns are infrequent (a few times per month) I don't think it is worth the effort to give myself more time on a daily basis.  This is where the "smart" part of the smart commute comes into play.

When I can remember, I've started using Alexa/Google Maps/Waze. If any of those services show significant delays, I could bypass the common area where delays occur and get on the highway at a more distant point.  The problem is you need to know of the delay ahead of time in order to take a different route.  I've only done this a few times but thus far I haven't found it to be overly accurate. At least once both Google Maps and Waze said traffic was light on my commute and I got stuck in a jam.  I'm not going to give up on the idea yet because I am hoping they can save me significant time and frustration on my commute.