And the school buses ... brother, they open it up on Spring Street, particularly from 15th to 7th. When the school corporation's operatives aren't otherwise pre-occupied destroying urban housing stock or looking for new jobs, they're presiding over a few lead-footed drivers. Has a school bus ever been ticketed in the history of the city?
Is there a NASCAR division for school buses?
I love the morning roar-bys, and the way my iPhone camera can't adjust in lesser light. Note that it isn't merely an illusion of speed. Since trucks from Tiger and J & J are eager only to leave town, they're not slowing down to enjoy the scenery.
Trucks to the left, and the right, and a school bus at the starting blocks. Any chance of a walker getting across the street, or did we erase the crosswalks at this intersection, too?
And then, seconds later ... but even an inveterate curmudgeon has to concede that when your hat's being blown from your head, and the mechanized din is too pervasive to hear the voices inside your own head, the sight of an American flag reminds us that our soldiers have fought and died for the city's collective right to surrender control over the public right of way in front of its citizens' houses.
Feeling patriotic yet?
There it is ... another dump trucks racing to beat the clock. Somewhere near Hauss Square, an underling is being dispatched to assure us that quite soon, this situation's going to be reversed, you know, just as soon as cowering politicians acquire enough political cover from a far-off consultant to risk doing something about problems they hesitate to even acknowledge.
After all, isn't that why we elect LOCAL leaders? Perhaps if they took a trip out past the cul de sac and joined us on the real streets, to see the way things really work, it might concentrate their thinking.
Ironically, the flashing 20 MPH school zone signs there are still working even though St. Mary's School is closed.
ReplyDeleteEvery morning and afternoon, no one drives at 20 MPH even though the signs are flashing.
I accepted when i moved to east spring that i would be living on a main thoroughfare, and with that came increased commercial traffic.
ReplyDeleteThe bridges project has increased that traffic, and when the Sherman Minton is the only untolled river crossing in the metro area, more companies will be using surface streets to access that bridge, it only makes financial sense.
Your a business man too, so you understand that.
The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly, and more often than not, complaints only act as a steep grade to slow those wheels further.
Since the majority of the pictures posted of the offending traffic is that of local companies, has any direct outreach been done with the companies to ask they speak to their drivers about slowing down?
Perhaps a few goodwill pints with owners/operators will have a more significant impact in the near term than trying to force complete infrastructure and ordinance changes.
We're all in this mess together, maybe a little less reliance on government and more reliance on open communication with the end users is the best option
I was talking to a city official who shall remain nameless. I asked him if City Hall seriously thought that J & J and Tiger Trucks would go back to using Main Street when the work is finished -- after all, the city didn't reduce the lane sizes as far as it should have in order to make the (ill-fated, in my view) compromise.
ReplyDeleteThe answer: We don't know about Tiger, but J & J absolutely will use Main Street, just so the trucks can swerve into the medians and damage them.
There's your level of mutual trust. Meanwhile, Tiger shows how much it cares by maintaining a virtual pig sty right next to the Greenway entrance.
The least we can do is slow them down. Speeds are plainly unsafe, and 24-hour police enforcement is obviously impossible. Design is the best and most efficient way.
Perhaps then a call to I.S.P. motor carrier enforcement regarding peak hours...
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