I don’t cover home Packers games very often for the radio station–and that’s a good thing–because the drivers on Interstate 41 heading to Lambeau Field are idiots. I actually had to mingle with Packers traffic this past Sunday morning en route to play Brown County Golf Course to play a free round. I was on I-41 around 8:30–meaning I was in with the folks rushing to get into the parking lot for the full 3-hours of tailgating allowed there.
I would put the average speed for those displaying Packers window flags, rear window stickers and license plates at about 82-miles an hour. There wasn’t much of a reduction in speed heading through the work zones in Neenah and Menasha either. Beer and brats wait for no one you know. Indiscriminate lane changing is also common for carloads of people all wearing green and gold apparel. Everyone must not be aware that all northbound lanes of 41 make it to Green Bay. Of course, there seemed to be more than a few drivers that were not aware that 41 goes from three lanes to two at Northland Avenue in Appleton–so there was a few last-minute swerves out of the turn lane that caused brake lights to come on suddenly.
And then there was the guy in the Silver Toyota with Packers helmet stickers on both doors who decided to play leapfrog with me for about ten mile– speeding up to pass me–pulling back into the right lane ahead of me and slowing down again. It’s called cruise control, sir–you may want to employ it.
While I missed the crash that tied up traffic near 55 in Kaukauna yesterday–and likely caused sheer panic for those who try to arrive around Lambeau in the hour before kickoff–I was witness to a chain reaction crash on Family Night. A series of SUV’s couldn’t stop in time for the backup in traffic around the Highway 172 interchange and plowed into each other. Out gets everybody in their Aaron Rodgers jerseys to survey the damage. That was also the night I saw about two dozen vehicles stuck in traffic on the ramp from 172 to Northbound 41 pull off–drive through a construction zone–and try to get back onto 172 in hopes of taking the next exit and doubling back to Lombardi.
It was actually amazing that all of this stupid driving was going on yesterday–since the State Patrol–along with the Winnebago, Outagamie and Brown County Sheriff’s Departments–had squad cars in every other median turnaround between Oshkosh and Green Bay. Not sure what they were looking for.
Fortunately, my round finished up before post-game traffic let out and I would be left to wonder why we go only 15-miles an hour between Green Bay and Kaukauna–when everyone is heading in the same direction. Just once I would like to be in one of the first two cars in that long line to see why you go so slow.
Anyway, it was another day to appreciate NFL RedZone channel and the need to never go to the stadium to see the game.
