Fed up with Tara Boulevard I’ve been searching for a new way to get to the interstate. My first plans began with cruising down route 3 to get to exit 221 (I think), but a happy accident on the way home from work a couple of weeks back gave me a better idea. I was cruising further south than my normal 235 exit to plan where I’d come out at, and what did I happen upon? Exit 224… Hudson Bridge Road, an exit that happens literally immediately next to my every-Tuesday trivia night at the Mellow Mushroom. The Mellow Mushroom to which I’d recently had pointed out a new, short route from home, via Noah’s Ark Road.

Woo! Excellent! Finding Noah’s Ark’s route had cut my surface street time to 10 minutes, down from around 25. But it also added 11 miles on the interstate, much of which was through perpetual construction (flashbacks to Elk Grove Boulevard).

I’ve been trying to work out the measurements on it. The drive is definitely different… in fact my daily drive gains about 8 miles each way now, which is a lot. I think it takes about the same amount of time, though it’s hard to say for sure due to traffic issues. But it’s definitely less aggravating. Sharply so. Amazingly so. Worth an extra 16-18 miles a day? Hmmm.

It’s tough to tell if it takes longer because every day that I’ve tried it so far, there’s been some complication preventing it from being a real test. This morning, a critical wreck on the connector shut it down, so I had to take 285 (which I vow to never do again for my morning commute short of the connector being covered in landmines). Last week there were wrecks, truck spills, me having to change my schedule, etc. It’s just been impossible to get the whole picture.

But this is the best alternate route I’m going to get for now, unfortunately. I’m hoping it’s worth sticking with.