Reading your piece on Rijkswaterstaat, I can't help but mention our own situation on the New York Thruway on Monday. As we passed Albany en route home from the Adirondacks after a lovely three day 4th of July Independence Day weekend, we ran into the usual snarls and stalls and hold ups and blockages and slowdowns and unexplained waits. We were something like 90 miles from our turn off onto the Garden State Parkway and about 15 more miles to the Tappan Zee, were we headed that way.

A sign with flashing yellow lights attracted our attention with a message board displaying a somewhat alarming message for these War on Terror days: "Expect Delays Ahead! When yellow lights are flashing, tune radio to 1610 AM for emergency messages."

So we tuned our radio to 1610 AM and heard the following portentous amplification of the signboard's message:   "This is the New York Thruway Radio Network. Expect delays between Albany and the Tappan Zee Bridge. Keep tuned for updates. Thank you."

Cheers,