First - I acknowledge a couple of differences between this protest and the traffic blockages that really turned me against the practice:
1. This particular protest appears to have been organized (and announced) in advance. I was unaware of this (blame incomplete reading on my part) when I made my first comment. People know they're coming and, in general, they're organized to allow emergency traffic or alternative routes for those going somewhere.
Spontaneous traffic blockages really piss people off and tend to be the focus of attention. Interstate 80 was blocked for a while near my home after Trump was announced as the president-elect; nearly all of the news coverage was directed toward the families who were trying to get to a local hospital to visit relatives in the ICU. Likewise, when BLM blocked highway exit ramps leading to airports, the media spent more time covering people who missed flights as a result of the action.
2. This particular protest had a specific goal - block Trumpcare. Other traffic blockage protests have not been so centered. Consider some of the BLM protests - what, exactly, did they intend to accomplish beyond making people aware of police violence toward African Americans? Were they protesting for or against specific legislation, or individual political officials or police officers? (Protests organized in reaction to specific acts of police brutality often call for a specific officer's dismissal and prosecution, but not all BLM protests did.) Likewise - what, exactly, did those who blocked freeways in reaction to Trump's "election" hope to accomplish? Again, the news reports focused on the outcome relative to travellers and commuters, not the reasons for the protest.
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