Traffic, Part 2
Mr. Nugent, I can sympathize with your fated trip through historic and quaint Olde Downtown Pickerington because I have to live it every day. 2 Million bucks and what do you have? Some cute streetlights and some pretty bricks. But believe it or not, because you?’re dealing with amateurs here, we have spent 2 MILLION bucks to compound a problem and not a single dime on a way to fix it. Picture this: the other morning I had to leave early to catch a flight. As I came into historic and quaint Olde Downtown Pickerington, I had to wait through all the cycles of the light at Columbus/Lockville. Was there another single car on the road? No. I turned and headed towards our new light and lo and behold, just as I was just about there, it turned. Was there another single car on the road? No. Could both of these lights have been on flash at this wee hour of the morning? Yes. Up Hill Road I go. No train, thank goodness. Light at Diley ?– RED. Light at Kroger ?– RED. Light at Refugee ?– RED. Light at Big Bear ?– RED. Light at Bob Evans ?– RED. Light at 204 ?– RED. Light at freeway entrance ?– RED. Number of other vehicles encountered ?– 4. Nine, count em NINE red lights and 4 other vehicles encountered. Is this an appropriate flow to traffic before 5:30 in the morning? I don?’t think so.
I could regale you with stories like this for every part of our fair city I have tried to get to at one time or another on a given day, but you have been there, too. You have sat and sat. You have seen the people pull out of Post Office or the church into a 50 mph zone and proceed at 25 mph out of desperation or stupidity. You have read the endless accounts of rear-end collisions in the local papers. The question is what are we going to do about it? The answer is nothing. I have accused the voters of this City of being lazy and apathetic. I have accused the Council of ignoring the voters?’ wishes and failing to represent the voters and taxpayers. I have said too much on too many occasions. We are talking about 2 State highways here as principal clogged arteries serving our community. Perhaps it is high time for the taxpayers to forget about crying the blues to our elected representatives in the City and move to the State level. Why isn?’t there a board or commission or something to look at overall traffic congestion in the areas adjoining Pickerington, Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Violet Twp., Truro Twp., Fairfield and Franklin Counties and any other entity within 5 square miles of the Pickerington exit? Why are we trying to deal with this at a level that has no experience in dealing with such matters?
Mr. Nugent, if our City leaders cannot do anything but construct Berry connectors to nowhere and add traffic signals on a Berry as-needed basis, how can we expect them to see the forest beyond the trees when it comes to the eventual total gridlock of traffic we could face in the next 12-18 months? Critical elections are coming again in November 2003 and we still have a few blocks of streets we need to narrow and put cute bricks along before we bypass it with a connector. Their focus will be there. We need to step beyond them and take our futures to a higher level. We can?’t stop the annexations and high-density rezonings. They will continue until the incumbents are voted out of office (permanently we hope). Somehow there has to be a governing entity that will tell the officials of Pickerington that such and such a roadway is designed for 10,000 cars per day. ?“Our traffic study shows that you are currently exceeding that. Your approved subdivisions will add 50% more. So we say NO! You can?’t allow more houses until your infrastructure is capable of handling it!''
There has to be someone in this country with authority exceeding that of the power bloc seated in our City government. There has to be someone out there with a little common sense.
By Maverick
Mr. Nugent, I can sympathize with your fated trip through historic and quaint Olde Downtown Pickerington because I have to live it every day. 2 Million bucks and what do you have? Some cute streetlights and some pretty bricks. But believe it or not, because you?’re dealing with amateurs here, we have spent 2 MILLION bucks to compound a problem and not a single dime on a way to fix it. Picture this: the other morning I had to leave early to catch a flight. As I came into historic and quaint Olde Downtown Pickerington, I had to wait through all the cycles of the light at Columbus/Lockville. Was there another single car on the road? No. I turned and headed towards our new light and lo and behold, just as I was just about there, it turned. Was there another single car on the road? No. Could both of these lights have been on flash at this wee hour of the morning? Yes. Up Hill Road I go. No train, thank goodness. Light at Diley ?– RED. Light at Kroger ?– RED. Light at Refugee ?– RED. Light at Big Bear ?– RED. Light at Bob Evans ?– RED. Light at 204 ?– RED. Light at freeway entrance ?– RED. Number of other vehicles encountered ?– 4. Nine, count em NINE red lights and 4 other vehicles encountered. Is this an appropriate flow to traffic before 5:30 in the morning? I don?’t think so.
I could regale you with stories like this for every part of our fair city I have tried to get to at one time or another on a given day, but you have been there, too. You have sat and sat. You have seen the people pull out of Post Office or the church into a 50 mph zone and proceed at 25 mph out of desperation or stupidity. You have read the endless accounts of rear-end collisions in the local papers. The question is what are we going to do about it? The answer is nothing. I have accused the voters of this City of being lazy and apathetic. I have accused the Council of ignoring the voters?’ wishes and failing to represent the voters and taxpayers. I have said too much on too many occasions. We are talking about 2 State highways here as principal clogged arteries serving our community. Perhaps it is high time for the taxpayers to forget about crying the blues to our elected representatives in the City and move to the State level. Why isn?’t there a board or commission or something to look at overall traffic congestion in the areas adjoining Pickerington, Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Violet Twp., Truro Twp., Fairfield and Franklin Counties and any other entity within 5 square miles of the Pickerington exit? Why are we trying to deal with this at a level that has no experience in dealing with such matters?
Mr. Nugent, if our City leaders cannot do anything but construct Berry connectors to nowhere and add traffic signals on a Berry as-needed basis, how can we expect them to see the forest beyond the trees when it comes to the eventual total gridlock of traffic we could face in the next 12-18 months? Critical elections are coming again in November 2003 and we still have a few blocks of streets we need to narrow and put cute bricks along before we bypass it with a connector. Their focus will be there. We need to step beyond them and take our futures to a higher level. We can?’t stop the annexations and high-density rezonings. They will continue until the incumbents are voted out of office (permanently we hope). Somehow there has to be a governing entity that will tell the officials of Pickerington that such and such a roadway is designed for 10,000 cars per day. ?“Our traffic study shows that you are currently exceeding that. Your approved subdivisions will add 50% more. So we say NO! You can?’t allow more houses until your infrastructure is capable of handling it!''
There has to be someone in this country with authority exceeding that of the power bloc seated in our City government. There has to be someone out there with a little common sense.
By Maverick
