STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Like many Staten Islanders, I dread taking the Staten Island Expressway. For a whole bunch of reasons. More on that later.

But I have to say that I’ve kind of made my peace with the highway over the last few months, at least with the Brooklyn-bound side.

And that’s something, I guess.

Look, it’s frequently a nightmare to merge onto the highway from the West Shore Expressway. Almost without fail you’re going to be faced with a wall of traffic stretching as far as the eye can see. It can be daunting.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bailed on the jam-packed Brooklyn-bound expressway after getting off the Goethals Bridge, usually when returning from vacation. I’d head for a quick exit, usually the one that dumps you onto Victory Boulevard in Willowbrook, near the College of Staten Island campus.

But plodding up Victory Boulevard all the way to my house in Stapleton is no great ride either. First of all, a lot of other motorists from the highway will have the same idea as me and also exit onto Victory.

And Victory has its share of traffic lights and speed cameras. It’s a long ride and not free of its own congestion.

So after a while, I decided to just tough it out on the expressway and see what happened. Was I really saving any time and/or aggravation by jumping off?

And, for the most part, I found out that I wasn’t.

The key is that merge off of the West Shore Expressway. That has the potential to be clogged at pretty much any time.

And once you’ve made it through that and have gotten on to the SIE, you lose the left lane. So everybody’s got to merge in, including those drivers who, yes, use that lane to get ahead of other cars and cut them off.

But while the traffic can still be heavy after that lane vanishes, it generally starts moving a lot better. At least when I’ve been driving it.

And it’s easy to check your progress, because there’s an automated sign on the side of the road that tells you how long it will take for you to get to certain exits and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Almost without fail, that sign tells me that it’s six minutes to my exit and Clove Road. And it’s almost without fail correct.

So at least that side of the highway is manageable. Mind you, I don’t drive during the morning rush. That’s probably a whole different animal.

And I still generally avoid the New Jersey-bound side of the highway if I can.

I regularly drive into New Jersey during the evening rush at least once a week, either taking the Bayonne Bridge or the Goethals Bridge.

The traffic on the SIE is usually grinding at that time of the day, so I take local roads, including Forest Avenue and Castleton Avenue, to get to those spans.

I don’t think I’m losing any time doing so and I know that I’m saving a lot of aggravation, including having to battle drivers who use breakdown lanes and exit-only lanes to cut fellow motorists off.

I also avoid the traffic-causing merge that results from the sudden and ridiculous termination of the Jersey-bound HOV lane.

So there are ways to manage the Staten Island Expressway. And, hey, for all the stress, at least the SIE doesn’t have any speed cameras or speed bumps. That’s something worth celebrating these days.

MORE STATEN ISLAND HIGHWAY STORIES FROM TOM WROBLESKI

Lost highway: Taking a ghostly stroll on disused exits of abandoned Staten Island parkway

Who’s watching? Identifying new Staten Island Expressway camera array a frustrating, multi-agency odyssey

The Staten Island Expressway is undrivable. Here’s how I get around without it (opinion)

QOSHE - I finally made peace with the Staten Island Expressway. Here’s what happened (opinion) - Tom Wrobleski
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I finally made peace with the Staten Island Expressway. Here’s what happened (opinion)

3 1
12.11.2023

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Like many Staten Islanders, I dread taking the Staten Island Expressway. For a whole bunch of reasons. More on that later.

But I have to say that I’ve kind of made my peace with the highway over the last few months, at least with the Brooklyn-bound side.

And that’s something, I guess.

Look, it’s frequently a nightmare to merge onto the highway from the West Shore Expressway. Almost without fail you’re going to be faced with a wall of traffic stretching as far as the eye can see. It can be daunting.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bailed on the jam-packed Brooklyn-bound expressway after getting off the Goethals Bridge, usually when returning from vacation. I’d head for a quick exit, usually the one that dumps you onto Victory Boulevard in Willowbrook, near the College of Staten Island campus.

But plodding up Victory Boulevard all the way to my........

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