Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Gridlock ws not the plan

Houston Chronicle:

Thousands of furious evacuees sweltering for hours on traffic-choked freeways Thursday put a stain on what had been a generally successful response by state and local governments faced with back-to-back weather emergencies in Texas.

"This was not in the plan," County Judge Robert Eckels said, turning away from the lectern after a news briefing dominated by questions about the gridlock that resulted from the evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita.

For the most part, the officials didn't offer much analysis of what might have gone wrong. They focused instead on the scramble to keep thousands of motorists from what Mayor Bill White called a potential "death trap" should the storm strike while they were stranded on the road.

But Brazoria County Judge John Willy criticized other local officials for calling for voluntary evacuation when Brazoria was under a mandatory evacuation order. That, he said, put a lot of cars on the dedicated evacuation routes and prevented people from the south from getting out.

Sweter is right. Traffic was moving too slow to cool the engine while running the air conditioner. Our entire trip on 290 was with the AC off and the windows open. It had all the noise and smell of a NASCAR event without the speed. I think our average speed on 290 was under 10 MPH.