It comes down to the very basic of human emotions. It comes down to whether the little angel on your left shoulder beats out the little devil on your right shoulder.
The question remains, just how are you going to handle the traffic conundrum that is about to be created when repaving work begins next week on J.L. Chestnut Boulevard, Old Cahaba Road and Medical Center Parkway? Are you going to let the primal instincts of road rage take over or are you going to remain patient and understanding?
While it is easy to be a little “tongue-in-cheek” about the upcoming road work, the questions above are legitimate, if not also a little mocking.
At this point, there is nothing that can be done to postpone the repaving project until after work on Dallas Avenue is complete. As they say, that ship has sailed.
In the perfect world, the Dallas Avenue bridge replacement project would have been started and completed before this repaving project was started.
The mere volume of rerouted traffic, because of the bridge work, onto J.L. Chestnut Boulevard, Medical Center Parkway and Old Cahaba Road has been almost overwhelming at times.
The intersection near Miller Lumber Company has already become stretched to the breaking point, with some cars waiting 10 minutes to make their way through. We can only imagine the confusion, congestion and constrenation of what is about to come.
But, still we are thankful for the state funding that has allowed this much-needed paving work to be done.
These roads are in desperate need of work and there really never is the perfect time to disrupt traffic for repaving. Then again, we have a pretty good idea that the timing of this project may qualify as the worst timing in quite some time.
With all of that said, we ask that everyone — including us — be patient over the next few weeks and months as this work is under way. It will be a better drive once it’s all completed.