On Friday afternoon, as I made haste out of the city for a weekend spent downstate, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about 30 minutes on Nelson Avenue.

For some reason that I will never understand, I thought it would be quicker to shoot across Nelson to the slip ramp between exits 13 and 14, despite the 6 o'clock hour.

Boy was I wrong. At several point, I had my car in park, engine off, in the middle of the street. There was no point in burning gas, we weren't going anywhere. I was eventually able to pull a u-turn, retreat, and make haste for exit 15. Otherwise, I think my 30 minutes could have been easily doubled or tripled.

In the thick of it all, were the low-paid civilian traffic control officers, who are in charge of keeping traffic moving, and tourists calm -- not an easy task, I assure you.

This is certainly not a glamorous job, but let me tell you, it is a necessary one, as every person leaving the track on Friday afternoon was certain that where ever they were going was much more important than where anyone else was going. There was lot of people cutting in and out, and drunk hoards walking among the cars.

Without a few traffic controllers to keep things at least somewhat orderly, it would have been a much worse scene. So here's to you!