No one would confuse eastern Wake County with the Interstate 40 parking lot between Raleigh and RTP on a weekday morning, but the need for more travel options in this region is becoming more of an issue.

I recently drove from my home in Wendell to East Wake High School. I was running late and in a hurry, which seems to be the norm these days. As I got on Wendell Boulevard, things went well until I hit the Pine Street intersection where I got behind a car whose driver was bound and determined not to drive more than 10 mph below the posted speed limit.

As we crept past the elementary school, I kept hoping the driver might turn right on Marshburn Road. No such luck. I followed him all the way out past McDonald's and on to Hephzibah Church. Finally, when the road widened to four lanes, I was able to move over and resume driving the speed limit. OK, so a few miles more than the limit.

But it made me keenly aware of the limited options I have to get into and out of Wendell.

Drivers who must navigate past the elementary school every morning see the same thing as cars line up to turn right into the small school driveway. Even when traffic is flowing smoothly past the school, there's still a lot of it.

In Zebulon, I like to point out that the only traffic jam I've ever encountered is at the intersection of Mack Todd Road and Barbee Street Extension. A traffic jam there happens when four cars approach the intersection at one time.

The most challenging motorway in Zebulon is actually Arendell Avenue, which is the town's most popular thoroughfare and the major access point to U.S. 64. Friday afternoons, in particular, can be a challenge, working your way north toward Pearces Road.

And since most folks aren't likely to drive east on N.C. 97 past Wal-Mart to go west toward Raleigh, Arendell Avenue catches the bulk of the traffic.

In Knightdale, things have eased somewhat with the opening of the Knightdale Bypass, but I still find myself dreading a trip down Knightdale Boulevard when my wife makes me go to the Shoppes at Midway.

There is an entire alphabet soup of organizations dedicated to transportation improvements. Some groups want to build more roads. Others want to emphasize mass transit like buses and trains.

There are regional groups, state groups and even federal groups all working on transportation.

It's like a bureaucratic traffic jam.

Solving traffic woes in a growing region is a headache for anyone. Fixing the problem is made worse by the struggling economy which has stripped governmental budgets of all the money for common-sense expenditures.

I suppose the lesson in all this for me is to leave home a little bit earlier, relax and enjoy the scenery as I cruise along at 20 mph.

For the next 30 years.