The personal writings and photos of Jonathan Smith.

After I leave work at 5PM I need to go the entire way across town to get home. It’s just Second Street the entire way, but you need a strategy to make it across town in a timely fashion. Here’s my strategy.

First, when I get off the Second Street exit of 83 north I stay in the right lane as there will surely be a few people turning right onto Paxton Street.  Now when I cross Paxton Street I glance to the right to make sure people are yielding to my right merging from Paxton Street to the east onto Second Street.

Now you need to avoid the crater-like holes in the middle lane of Second Street near the railroad bridge. Those will do a number on your wheels and your alignment. At this time, peer under the railroad bridge and look for any buses in the right lane that may be pulling into Market Square. If there’s no buses, I stay in the right lane. If there is a bus, it’s back to the middle lane.

If I’m in the right lane at Market Street, there will definitely be people turning right onto Market Street. It happens every time. If I’m in the middle lane I keep an eye on these people turning right onto Market Street as the middle and left lanes will jam up between Market and Walnut Street. Right after Market I’ll hop in the right lane to avoid the cluster that tries to turn left onto Walnut Street to get over onto Front Street. Now is when I pray that someone is not trying to parallel park or some freakin taxi decides to double park ruining my entire strategy.

Time to avoid some more huge potholes near Locust and Pine Streets. All is good staying until North Street. I need to watch traffic here as it usually backs up to this corner from the red light at Forster Street. Stay in the right lane here because the middle land backs up big time and the left lane is mostly turning left to go across the river into Camp Hill.

Now avoid the pot holes crossing Forster Street. From here to Division Street it’s pretty smooth sailing. Just stay in the right lane and you should have no problems. The downtown area is what takes the most skill to maneuver through. Hopefully this Harrisburg commuting strategy will help others get across town in a timely fashion.

Related posts:

1. Harrisburg Neighborhood Crime Watch Tonight I met with Shannon Wade (neighborhood crime watch president),...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.