Jack asks the obvious question..."Why are they not opening the Southbound

[Roxy66]

lanes to get out of Houston?"

[MarvinBarns]

1. Incompetence......... Texas style

[ecoflame]

6. I've reached the conclusion it's all about incompetence.

[Roxy66]

2. Randi is asking the same question.... OPEN BOTH SIDES

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Randi Rhodes is talking about this now. :)

[Avalux]

4. I'm watching in San Antonio

Our local news is providing reports so family members here can contact those stuck in traffic. Very frightening; so many people stranded who've run out of gas. I can't imagine only going 16 miles in 8 hours!

[BlueJac]

5. It is something to see........

no one using those lanes. I bet people are running out of gas as we speak!

[Roxy66]

7. I've been thinking this all morning...why does it take Jack asking to

get a freaking answer

[Roxy66]

10. Wolf is finally asking the authorities

and they are very defensive

[VolcanoJen]

8. "We're in the process of doing this now," says Chief of Houston Police.

Brownie.... is that you???

[Silverhair]

9. Contra traffic flow accomplishes little.

It is one of those ideas that sounds great, but doesn't work well in practice. You create a monster bottleneck at the place where the contra flow ends. And all those people that were driving contra still have to go somewhere. It ends up not actually moving that many people.

Also, if you would care to look at a map, Houston has many smaller roads out of it too.

And they have more time. Rita is still hundreds of miles away.

[A-Possum]

17. NOLA was successful

with contra flow. I can assure you that every backroad is totally backed up too.

I know this because I evacuated Corpus Christi in 1980 for Hurricane Allen, and it was EXACTLY the same scenario, bumper to bumper 150 miles to San Antonio on the interstate, and when we switched to back roads, they were open until you turned north, where they were also bumper to bumper, plus traffic lights in every little town. It was a nightmare, and this is 10 times worse.

That's why I've been saying since Monday people need to get out. The only person who called this right is the mayor of Galveston. She started out Monday with mandatory evac.

Time is rapidly running out. If you move 1 mile an hour, 24 hours is pretty short. Particularly when you run out of gas.

[A-Possum]

11. I've been asking that since yesterday

Couldn't believe the pics of I-45 out of Galveston, showing 4 lanes free and backed up the whole way on the other side.

Ridiculous.

And Texas out there claiming they have it all wired. Bah. The governor announced that their models showed it would take 33 hours to evacuate the coast. That's utterly stupid.

[Ganja Ninja]

12. Seems to me like running for Mexico would be a good idea.

You only have to be about 50 miles from the center to be out of the most serious damage areas. With the storm headed northwest running southwest would have you in a safe zone in less than an hour.

[VolcanoJen]

15. Chicken, if I'm ever in a natural disaster, I want you by my side.

Now that's some good thinking.

[Imalittleteapot]

16. With the lack of hotel rooms in Texas -

your idea is stellar. Bet some folks wish they had thought of it.

[WiseButAngrySara]

13. I've been asking the SAME question all day!..eom

[coffeenap]

14. CNN showing they just opened some of them. nt

[blm]

18. South Carolina does that now since Floyd.

.