All This for Four Feet of Pavement!

I live in the north so usually the orange construction barrels come out in late February in our area.  This year the major street near our house was blocked off for construction in the early spring.  The crews started taking out the medians and chewing up the pavement with large machines.  We found out that they were installing bike lanes on this one mile stretch of a major north/south street on our side of town. 

So for months we have endured closed lanes, two lanes of traffic compressed into one lane and barrels and road blocks.  Then in April and May the rains came.  We had one of the rainiest springs ever this year so road construction came to a stand still for weeks. 

Once the rain stopped and the skies cleared the construction did not continue.  We all watched for weeks as we were waiting in traffic in this area and there would be no one working.  People began complaining and the powers that be in our city said that the construction had been delayed because of the rain.  Sure, but for weeks after the rain stopped!  There is nothing more discouraging that sitting in traffic day after day and there is NO ONE working on the project.  Then we heard that the company that bid the job had to move onto other projects because of the rain delay.  What!  It seems to me that they would be required to finish what they started before moving on to other tasks. 

The contractor secured a one month extension on the project, so something that was supposed end September 1 was extended until October first.  Lately, as we get closer and closer to the beginning of October the activity has been picking up and lanes have been reopened. 

Collateral damage from this project was our little side streets and the streets in our small neighborhood.  As all these drivers sought to find ways around the traffic congestion they found our neighborhood and we were deluged with lines of commuters trying to get to work in the morning and get home in the evening.  Needless to say that now our streets are all torn up and we are not even close to the list to get them repaved.

So as they are opening lanes we are finding new pavement, new lane lines and a four foot wide bike path.  We went through months and months of congestion, traffic, accidents, horns blowing and people being generally nasty, as well as our now torn up streets for four feet of pavement for bike riders.

Was it all worth it?