Current twitter drama is Europeans confidently declaring that they don't need to drive or use overpriced public transport to get to the MetLife stadium for the World Cup; they will simply walk down the highway to get there. Girl it's New Jersey. They're gonna splatter you for fun.
If you manage to get on the turnpike before the cops stop you, a soccer mom is gonna do the Jersey slide in a RAV4 and turn your entire group into a wet speedbump
this? you want to walk down this????
please say sike
IT'S NOT A FUCKING STREET ITS AN 8-LANE SUPERHIGHWAY THAT GOES OVER A SWAMP
footpath
that is grass. just like ur ass, if you try to walk this thing
Image me gently taking your hand as I tell you the following:
This is ABSOLUTELY a perfectly fine footpath.
In fact, with how much space I’m seeing here, it is entirely plausible, that the European hordes will just create a temporary little Wanderweg right next to the highway. With that much space they might not even have to interfere with traffic.
But also have you seen the space between your highways? I‘d say the gaps each easily fit another whole stream of European walking hordes. Or maybe even two going opposite directions :D
tightly grips your hand with both of my sweaty hands.
the grass is not a permanent feature. there just happens to be a chunk of it there. the side of the road can vary from grass to swampwater ditches to steep embankments to absolutely nothing within a very short distance.
they will call in every highway enforcer in the state and mass incarcerate the lot of you before they allow you to Darwin Award yourselves across 6 lanes of traffic into an international incident or, (their real concern) impede the progress of the single most important north-south interstate corridor in america, ball kicky game be damned.
(I'm starting to believe that a fair number of you in the notes have We're Better Than Stupid Americans embedded so deeply into your cultural identity that you will Just Not Listen to anything we say to you about the material circumstances about the place we live in, rather than taking us at our word that there is a reason that most Americans travel the way we do and it's a good reason.)
do.... do the Europeans realize that all eight to ten lanes of that highway are also full of vehicles going potentially over 100km/hr?
and that our government has extremely lax safety standards for our vehicles and trucks, such that many of the SUVs and pickups on our roads frequently kill pedestrians because they can't see them?
and ALSO that we ship most of our goods by 18-wheeler, which are also on the same highway?
i pass so. much. roadkill. on my commute. worse right now, because it's spring and so the raccoons and possums are all out foraging after a hungry winter. it's just. it's very, very, very easy to die by car in this country.
so this is one of two highway bridges that crosses the Hackensack river into the swamp island that houses the Metlife stadium.
that shoulder is wide enough, technically, to walk single file. but the speed limit of the cars is 80km/hr, but most of the time, cars will be going between 88 and 100, on average. and you'd have to walk on the shoulder to cross the river, at least.
it may not be obvious in that picture, but the ground with the marsh grasses visible on the other side of the little wall (called a "jersey barrier") is at least a foot or two below the level of the road, and it's also going to be soft, foul-smelling muck - the kind that sucks your feet down several inches at least. there will be broken glass embedded in it throughout, because of the number of accidents that have happened over the many years of this highway existing.
i have walked along highways - including an interstate, for highway cleanup. I walk regularly, instead of driving, when i can. My friends back in the Pacific Northwest walk most of the time, or take public transit (in the actual cities of the US, there is public transit, even if it's not up to European standards. it does exist. it just doesn't exist in the suburbs). A lot of people in the area where I now live walk, because not everyone has a car, or has access to a car all the time. I've walked along busy roads for long stretches, and I've walked along highway shoulders with no sidewalks, and I've walked along dangerous ground under highways because there was no sidewalk or pedestrian bridge and the highway was dangerous.
Walking from New York to New Jersey is. it's a really really, really, really bad idea. I've done the drive several times. I cannot tell you how bad an idea it is. I have been hit by a truck in this area, back before trucks were all mandated to be big enough to kill on impact. (that's a joke. they aren't mandated to be that big, except by the makers.)
Don't do it. If you have a friend or loved one, tell them not to do it. You're literally safer taking the train the night before and sleeping in the parking lot.
I have zero investment in sports but i just read that they're closing off all the parking for the stadium for a "security perimeter" and...
wow this is not going to end well is it?
Here’s Why FIFA is Shutting Down Met-Life Stadium’s Parking Lot and Charging $200 to Park at American Dream Mall East Rutherford, New Jersey
Why MetLife parking is disappearing
Unlike NFL games, where MetLife’s sprawling lots handle most of the 80,000-plus attendees, FIFA will take control of the entire stadium footprint during the tournament. That control comes with strict requirements that effectively repurpose parking areas into operational zones.
Large sections of the lots will be converted into:
secured perimeters and screening checkpoints
international broadcast compounds
sponsor and hospitality installations
fan festival or “fan village” spaces
staging areas for buses, teams, and emergency services
NJ.com reports that these logistical needs leave little to no room for general parking, forcing organizers to redirect all fans to transit or designated remote lots.
This is hell, like they're bringing hell to New Jersey... Fuuuuuck
