5/2/07-Gridlock: The Lesson We Learned at the Bridge

On our trip out to New Jersey, we traveled up to Portland, Maine to visit a business associate. We knew we were going to drive through some large metropolitan areas, including New York City. Rather than try to avoid it, we thought we would just plan for some delays in traffic, and see some new things.

The drive went smoothly for a few miles after we left Newark, but shortly thereafter we saw a big black sign with yellow text that said, "Expect major delays crossing the George Washington Bridge. Use alternate routes." We would have used an alternate route, we had no idea what route to take, so we continued to drive toward the bridge. We did notice a few cars scrambling across 6 lanes of traffic, desperately trying to get to the right to exit and avoid the jam. I assume these guys were the locals who knew the alternate routes. They are secret, ya know.

For the next 2 hours, we crept along the interstate in short 10 foot hops, wondering when we would even see the bridge. I had the GPS in the car, and it was not even showing a bridge or any water. Not a good sign.

Eventually, we reached a point just before the bridge where there was total chaos. People were frantically trying to switch lanes in all directions, honking their horns and gesturing nastily. Why you ask? Well, they have a toll plaza before the George Washington Bridge, and some lanes take cash, and others only take the Easy Pass used by locals instead of cash, to save time and hassle. Right!

What do you think happens when 6 lanes of cars are forced into a toll plaza, and almost all of them are greenhorns like us, who have no Easy Pass? We all need to get to the right hand lanes to pay with coins. The poor locals who are still in the mob are trying to go to the left to use the Easy Pass, but it is anything but easy!

You could not see the toll plaza until it was too late, and people were trying to guess why people were changing lanes in both directions for no reason. What do you think they did? Yup! They started changing lanes for no good reason, adding fuel to the fire.

After the toll plaza, there was no more gridlock, and traffic sailed along smoothly. Looking back on this event, do you see any parallels with maintenance? We sure do. Why not plan ahead, and give people some directions to use the alternate routes instead of a useless damn sign with no instructions? Why not install more signs to tell people 10 miles back to get to the right if they want to pay the toll with cash, and get to the left for the Easy Pass lanes? This is classic planning and procedure building.

Now, put on your maintenance professionals hat, and think about all of the processes in your maintenance program that create the same kind of foolishness. It is costing you money, wasting your time and making your people mad. Simple changes can usually fix it. If you want proof, take a trip to New York, and cross the George Washington Bridge a few times. That ought to make it all crystal clear.