Now, I like a good pickup. Nothing like getting credit for a good pickup. It's a social contract you know...
We've confirmed that Jerry lives uptown, so I assume Kramer and George would be taking the Triboro at this point. They're already on the Grand Central, so *why* would Kramer want to take the Long Island Expressway? Everybody knows it's the Grand Central to the Van Wyck dammit!
Unless they took the tunnel, in which case it would *still* be better to jump onto the Grand Central anyway.
If you start out eastbound on the Grand Central (which is what you're doing once you're off the Triboro Bridge in Queens), there are perhaps three reasonable ways to get to the Van Wyck. In order of appearance, they are (1) cut across route 25A, aka Northern Boulevard; (2) cut across on the Long Island Expressway; and (3) exit the Grand Central directly onto the Van Wyck. The Grand Central and the Van Wyck run pretty much parallel and very close to each other between Northern Boulevard (option 1) and their intersection (option 3). So all of these options are fairly direct. George and Kramer seemed to be arguing over whether option 2 or 3 would likely present worse traffic at that particular time of day, in those particular conditions, etc. This sort of argument is very typical among NYC drivers (and probably in other cities as well... please don't jump on me for being NYC-centric on this one :-). I don't know if there's a more esteemed and yet unattainable position in the life of a NYC motorist than that of "traffic czar," always able to predict the best routes. It's especially fun when you make what appears to be a bad choice, start getting chewed out by the other people in the car, and then turn on WINS to find out that the other choices would have been far worse (not that I've ever known WINS to give an accurate traffic report in the 15 years I've been driving in this city!).
If you pass by all three options that I listed, you can either find your way through the local streets, or you can continue until you hit the Cross Island Expressway (is this what you meant when you said "Cross Town X-Way"?), then head south and catch the Belt Parkway westbound which will take you to JFK. This route takes you way out of your way, and you'd only do it because you weren't paying attention or because you wanted to stop at the Valley Stream mall or something on the way (well, not really on the way... as I said, it's way out of your way).
Ok,cool off. I just got back from 4 days of driving around Brooklyn and Queens visiting friends and family. So cut me some slack.
I meant Cross Island X-Way. I really think that Kramer was continuing until CI Expressway and taking the long way to JFK because he thought traffic on Van Wyck would be bumper-to-bumper.From the way George exploded it seemed like Kramer missed the exit to Van Wyck...
I meant Cross Island X-Way. I really think that Kramer was continuing until
CI Expressway and taking the long way to JFK because he thought traffic
on Van Wyck would be bumper-to-bumper.From the way George exploded it
seemed like Kramer missed the exit to Van Wyck...
This is reasonable, because if the Van Wyck is jammed then you could stay on the Grand Central until the Cross Island south until you hit the Southern State, or Belt Pkwy West into Kennedy.
But the problem is that George says something like "No, why are you taking the LIE!". Why would he say this if Kramer simply missed the exit to the Van Wyck? How can a show that prides itself in "NY centrism" actually commit this gaff?
I think you had better go get yourself a snapple real fast! :-)
I've flamed and been flamed in my time, and the above was most definitely not a flame. Try reading it without having a picture in your mind of some in-your-face jerk sadistically giving you the third degree for your mistake. Your inaccurate post simply prompted me to respond with an accurate account of the routes. If my "Cross Town X-Way? What the heck is that?" comment offended you, I apologize... but if you've been reading this group you should realize that people here are pretty free and easy with little jabs. That's all it was. I can assure you I don't consider it a federal crime to get confused about NYC roads.