Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Rush Hour

Hear me read this post


Americans like to drive cars and not many people drive motorcycles or scooters.  Our roads in the towns and cities are crowded with cars.  Especially in the morning and evening when everyone is going to or coming from work.  We call this time of day rush hour

Here is a video from a road near the Capital of the US, Washington, DC.  The road is I-495 but everyone calls it The Capital Beltway.  It's called a beltway because it makes a circle around the city, like a belt circles your waist.  People in this area often talk about being inside the beltway or outside the beltway, depending on where you are.  For example, someone might say, "I work inside the beltway in the city but I live outside the beltway in the Virginia suburbs." 

The I in I-495 stands for interstate.  I-495 is an interstate highway. Inter- is a prefix meaning between or among. So, interstate means between states. I-495 goes between Maryland and Virginia.

As you will see in the video, It's a big highway.  You can only see 4 lanes of traffic but that's just one side, there are 4 more lanes on the other side.  And you can see there are lots of vehicles, not just cars.  There are also big trucks and buses.    So, that a little bit of what it's like to drive in the United States. 

2 comments:

  1. what about the roads inside the city in rush hour? Comparing with Hanoi roads, what are more terrible? What about the air quality in the city?

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    1. Many people work in Washington,DC but live in the cities just outside the captial in Virginia and Maryland. So, they have to get on a highway like the one in the video everyday. In DC the entrances to highways are all around and it's easy to get on although there are many cars also trying to get on so it goes very slow. Driving in the city is very crowded with cars and moves very slow just like Hanoi but there are mostly cars instead of motorbikes. Some people ride the bus or the subway which also, gets very crowded during rush hour.

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