Roadwork Leaves Time For Meditation

I’ve been seeing red a lot, lately. No, I haven’t been angry. I’m talking about traffic lights. There are 252 traffic lights in the city, and I believe I’ve been stuck at red lights at half of them.

This has seriously aggravated my LBTS (Low Boredom Threshold Syndrome). I tried timing how many minutes I spend each day waiting for lights to change, but I also suffer from MDD (Math Deficiency Disorder).

Recently, I updated my Facebook status update while trapped at the Division Street and Wellesley Avenue intersection. According to city signal operations engineer, Valla Melvin, I really didn’t sit there for 20 minutes – it just felt that way.

She said the amount of time a signal light stays red varies from 60 seconds to a couple of minutes and the cycle length can vary throughout the day. Occasionally, the signals have to be adjusted due to road work.

And road work has left me maladjusted. This summer, the city began repaving the arterial I use to get in and out of my neighborhood. While it will be wonderful to drive a rut-free route, the process is proving painful.

I can never be sure how I’ll get home at the end of the day. Sometimes one end of my street is completely blocked and sometimes the connecting arterial is closed. Now, I have to use my GPS to find my way home. (MORE)

Source: The Spokesman-Review