“I Hate Traffic”: A Long Island Rant from the Road

Ugh, it’s summer on a Thursday. It’s almost the weekend. I should be happy, but with Thursday being the new Friday, it’s traffic day. Got to get past Thursday.

Let me say it loud and clear:

I hate traffic.

Not in the casual, “ugh, the LIE was a little slow” kind of way. I hate traffic with a deep, daily resentment — the kind that builds over time and eats away at you every single mile.

And I’m not just complaining from the sidelines. I drive well over 40,000 miles a year — and I’m not a trucker (although Sirius XM thinks I am, based on the ads they address to me). I’m just someone trying to live a normal life on Long Island: commuting to work, running errands, bringing my kids to practices, school events, lessons, and out-of-state youth sports tournaments in places like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

But despite all that driving, it still feels like I’ve barely gone anywhere. Because most of those miles? They’re the same worn-down roads, the same congested parkways, the same endless loop through gridlock hell.

And even worse? The drive itself isn’t even good.

You’d think with all this time in the car, maybe I’d get a view — a mountain, a lake, a stretch of road along the North Shore or the ocean. Something. But nope. All you get on Long Island is asphalt, sound barriers, strip malls, warehouses, and commercial buildings. The drive is ugly. It’s boring. It’s mind-numbing. There’s nothing scenic, nothing peaceful, nothing rewarding about the drive. You’re just boxed in, boxed out, and crawling forward.

The Northern State and Southern State are nicer, but the Southern State leads into the dreaded Belt Parkway. No matter how much scenery the Belt provides, nine out of 10 times, it’s a nightmare. 

To cope, I’ve tried to make it feel less like a complete waste. I subscribed to SiriusXM, and I’m not just flipping through music — I’m listening to CNBC, trying to learn something while sitting in standstill traffic. I’ve downloaded audiobooks and podcasts just to squeeze some productivity out of the time I’m losing. But let’s be real — it’s just noise over the hum of lost hours. You can’t concentrate when you are focused on the car in front of you. 

And while we’re at it — what if I have to use the restroom?

There are no real rest stops on Long Island highways. Zero. There is one pitiful excuse for one — and think about how much political drama it took just to build that. There’s not even a Wawa nearby, which at this point should be a basic human right in a state like ours.

It’s not just broken infrastructure — it’s broken logic.

And what are we actually doing to fix it? Nothing that matters. The same roads that were built more than 50 years ago are now handling an exponential amount of more traffic. North-south routes are a joke. We’re not adding anything new. We’re not innovating. We’re not investing in real solutions. We’re basically just patching potholes and fixing what we got and pretending that’s progress.

Mass transit? Useless you’re headed straight into Manhattan. Want to go from Nassau to Suffolk or across the Island? Or get to New Jersey? You’re on your own. I tried taking the train to MetLife once. That was an experience that made the car ride seem pleasurable.

And here’s the part that really stings:

Why am I paying so much in taxes? Why am I swallowing this absurd cost of living just to sit in traffic every day of my life?

For what?

Seriously — what exactly am I paying for?

To be trapped in my car for hours? To stress out? To waste time I could be spending with my kids, on my health, at work, or — god forbid — enjoying life?

No amount of scenic shorelines we never get to see or “great schools” can justify a life spent staring at the back of a Subaru on the LIE.

It’s not the weather.

It’s not the taxes.

It’s not even the politics.

It’s the traffic.

It’s always the traffic.

Note: The writer of this opinion piece wishes to remain anonymous.