Dear Crabby, Why does the road commission work on adjacent roads concurrently?

Dear Crabby,

Work is being done on Tienken and Avon roads, so there is no easy access east to west. It makes travel very frustrating. I know these roads need to be fixed, but why not put all the manpower on different segments of one road, repair it, and open the road quickly to the public?

Sincerely, Dizzy Driver

Dear Dizzy Driver,

In Michigan the joke has always been that we have five seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter… and construction. And after the hard winter we had, our roads (which weren’t in great shape to begin with) are in need of a lot of TLC—Tender Loving Construction. But you bring up an excellent point: why do multiple roads have to be worked on at the same time? I’ve never understood that concept either. Especially when the roads you mentioned are so close to each other and lots of folks depend on them to get around. Traffic, especially on Walton, has been a mess and now that the kids are back in school, it’s only bound to get worse. DearCrabby

I’m sure if we asked the folks in charge of making these decisions, they’d tell us it all has to do with budgets, manpower, and timing. And I get that. But if you or I approached our jobs the way they approach fixing the roads, we’d probably find ourselves in the unemployment line! So, they should either do what you suggested and put all their energy into fixing one road at a time, or if they must fix multiple roads at once, at least pick roads that aren’t so close to each other! Personally, I think they should make it a competition—a race against the clock like a barn raising. Once on a trip Up North with my folks and siblings we came across some Amish folks getting ready to construct a barn, so we decided to watch them while we ate our lunch. Let me tell you, it was quite a sight to behold. Everyone was working hard with the same goal: to build a barn quickly. Now, if the Amish, who don’t use any electricity or other modern marvels can build a sizable barn in roughly a week, it seems that the road people with all their fancy technology could fix a road faster than what it seems to take. Then again, the Amish aren’t in a union.

So, I guess until the powers that be figure out a smarter way to streamline the whole construction process we’re gonna be stuck with the congestion and inconvenience. But that’s the beauty of being retired. I can come and go when I want to, so I think me and the missus will wait to run our errands early in the morning or late at night. Stay safe out there on the roads and try not to hit anything… or anyone.

Sincerely, Dear Crabby

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Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Read regularly by thousands and loved by some, Dear Crabby answers questions weekly to life's challenges. Send him a note at editor@rochestermedia.com.

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