'Is there nobody in overall charge of our roads?' - frustration at gridlock on Sheffield's roads
“It is only going to get worse”
It took me over an hour to make the short journey from The Star office to my home one day last week.
On a good day, I could have driven to Manchester or Leeds in the same amount of time as I spent making a trip of just a few miles.
'It can't be good for the planet to have all these cars sat going nowhere but pumping out all those fumes,' a passenger commented to me as we waited and waited to crawl forward just a few inches.
How very true.
It also definitely isn't good for our stress levels as frustration levels grow, we miss appointments and what was a well planned day becomes a rush of lateness.
I'm not one to suffer from road rage but I am absolutely furious that those in charge are happy to stare out of their penthouse windows onto thousands of cars and buses not moving an inch.
It definitely isn't good for our budgets.
When the price of fuel is eye-watering, the last thing you want to do is sit in gridlock while fumes float out of your pocket and away into the sky.
Last week was particularly painful for anyone using roads in the city centre, in part due to a burst water main which probably couldn't have been avoided. I'll leave the debate about how badly our infrastructure is looked after for another day!
We were first warned in September that chaos was coming.
A staggering, rolling series of 395 road closures over a year-and-a-half, which are well and truly creating agony now.
It isn't just the city centre that is struggling.
Pity anyone using the section of Manchester Road leading to Snake Pass that is closed til June and has a 24-mile diversion in place.
Should we laugh, cry or give up completely on the Northern Powerhouse?
It feels like there are roadworks wherever you turn and, brace yourselves, it is only going to get worse.
We face five years of raised blood pressure as a seven mile energy pipeline is laid. It seems a bit harsh to say avoid the Northern General Hospital, Pitsmoor, Burngreave, Grimesthorpe, the Lower Don Valley, Tinsley and Waverley - but don't say I didn't warn you.
You might ask who approves these schemes and if they ever talk to each other.
I often find myself wondering this question, usually while I'm being made late by unending traffic cones and often with nobody actually working anywhere near.
Wouldn't it be better to have shifts working around the clock, as they do in many countries, so schemes are finished as quickly as possible
Is there nobody in overall charge of our roads? Can't anybody see that projects should be timed so the city keeps moving? Does nobody care?
Then there are the cycle lanes which in Sheffield are a joke.
For a seemingly dull topic, the amount of bad puns floating around on the internet never fails to amuse me. But it is no laughing matter if truth be told.
Some are so badly designed and understandably underused that the national money invested feels pretty pointless.
I know plenty of cyclists and they all have horror stories or scars to show for their endeavours.
So we come back to the traffic jams - even overpriced parking and money-spinning bus lanes do nothing to ease us out of our cars in 2026.
If the stick isn't working, what about the carrot?
'When will the buses be free for me', my youngest groaned when trying to work out how much he had left of his monthly allowance.
'Not soon enough,' was my reply even though the truth is that I am overjoyed that he can even ask that question without sarcasm.
My stories of paying just 2p for a bus ride will be nothing compared to what the younger generation will be able to tell their own children as they look back.
There are green shoots of hope.
Supertram may reach further if we're patient and there is a plan for buses.
One example is Chesterfield Road. A place where I must have spent days waiting for the right bus to arrive during my lifetime.
The changes will include 'smart' traffic signal technology to allow buses priority - let's hope it is more successful than the overhead crosses and ticks which have long since disappeared from nearby Queens Road.
It will also provide real-time journey information for passengers.
I refer back again to my teenage son who says he hopes it is better than the existing electronic signs which tell you when a bus is due - only for the detail to magically disappear at the correct time even though the bus never actually appeared.
There is still a lot of work to be done to improve public transport before we are tempted out of our cars.
The irony being that even our buses are being made later by constant roadworks.
The tragedy being that I have seen three ambulances struggling to pass huge lines of stationary cars in five days and somebody inside there could have been dying.
It is going to get worse.