Street Closed Forever

I'm sure it happens in other cities, and that it bugs the people in those cities as much as it bugs me. Maybe more, if it impinges on their life more than it impinges on mine. 'It' is a street that seems to be perpetually closed or at least, under construction for repairs. In my town, that street is 114^th, between W Dodge and Pacific.

It didn't bother me too much until a year ago, when we discovered a new restaurant, now our favorite eating place, just off the corner of 114^th & W Dodge. I could get there on Dodge, but I seldom drive that section of Dodge; it's a busy, busy street, and I would rather drive on less-busy 114^th. At that time, it was under construction for repairs, but that is such a normal circumstance in our town, I didn't think much of it.

Maybe it is our favorite restaurant, but in this economy, we don't go that often. We went about a month ago, figuring the repairs were done, but no, they weren't. In fact, at one point, this fairly major street was down to one lane. That was a little bit odd, but surely it wouldn't last long, right?

Yesterday I was headed to the same area (not for the restaurant, but for another business in that area), and 114^th Street was completely closed! In that neighborhood, the back streets wander all over the place, and if you don't know them well, you could go in circles for the rest of your gas. I continued along Pacific to 120^th, only to find it was also closed as they repaved the surface. I gritted my teeth, turned around and headed back along Pacific to 102^nd, which was not closed, and I got there, eventually, a bit late for my appointment.

Some cities charge the construction company fines when street repair or construction takes longer than the contract allows. But this city has its own 'street repair crews', who seem to delight in tearing things apart all over the city in the spring, then I guess they all go on vacation for the summer, and sometime in the fall, they might start fixing things again. And sometimes, a particular street will take far longer than 1 year to get back to normal. It ought to be a crime.