Whenever someone finds out that we’ve moved to Branson they nearly always say, “Oh, I love that area! It is so beautiful, and we always have a lot of fun, but how do you stand the traffic?”
Every Sunday, as we are headed to breakfast after attending church, I am reminded of this question. I want to hang a big sign out of the car window that says in giant letters “THERE ARE OTHER ROADS IN THIS TOWN BESIDES THE STRIP!” If you are driving west on The Strip (Hwy. 76) on a Sunday morning, you are fine; but if you are headed east, it will take you 30 minutes to go 4 or 5 miles, because it is bumper to bumper and the line is at a virtual standstill. I have yet to figure out why there is so much traffic at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. There are a few shows that start at 10, but anyone attending those should be off of the road by then. Most church services are in session, are over, or they start at 11-- plus, they aren’t located on The Strip or they can usually be approached without getting on The Strip at all. The only other thing I can figure is that there A LOT of tourists checking out of the motels and heading out of town. It would be great if some of them would just head out making a westerly loop instead of heading east.
There are other times when The Strip is overly crowded in either/or both directions, so let me give you a hint: be brave and venture off of The Strip. Even if you get lost, it won’t be for long, you’ll see something besides the back end of the car in front of you, and you’ll probably still get where you are going faster than if you sit in a 3 mile line of cars! You can find maps just about anywhere that will show you alternate routes (red, yellow, or blue—look for the signs) so take a few minutes to formulate a plan before you ever venture out. There are a lot of theaters, restaurants, and shops on The Strip, but there are plenty in other locations, too. Try some of them. I know they would appreciate your business.
Branson has spent a lot of time and money the last few years adding infrastructure to help alleviate the traffic problems, but it seems to be mainly the locals who are making use of them. That’s great for the people who live in Branson, but the visitor who never leaves The Strip may get a bad impression and decide the traffic isn’t worth the hassle. That is especially sad, because it is a fixable problem by just thinking outside of the box, or in this case, outside of The Strip.
Check out the following link if you would like to view maps of the Branson area: http://www.branson.com/learn/branson-area-information/maps. (FYI--Our house is located on the south side of Taneycomo at about the half-way point).
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ReplyDeleteGood point about the tourists needing to know OTHER routes exist. For us "locals," I'm glad they don't know about the alternate routes as much. It gives me a better way to get to work and around town. BUT, you're right, this town thrives because of the tourists and many of them could be deciding against coming back just because of the traffic. As much as I would HATE to see my roads filling up and the lines growing at those traffic lights, I would LOVE to see my roads filling up and the lines growing at those traffic lights.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY like being able to sneak around town on the backroads, but I also REALLY hate seeing all of those cars at a virtual standstill on the strip. Before we figured out how to navigate Branson, we found ourselves in that line a few times. After barely making it to a couple of shows, we started learning other ways to get where we were going. I guess if people start using the alternate routes, we'll just have to start leaving our houses a little earlier, won't we? I don't think the traffic will ever get as bad as the parking lot they call Dallas!!
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