Commentary: A Distinct Improvement in the Life of Elizabethtown
Aug 18th, 2011 | By Sanjay Paul | Category: Features, Front PageThe traffic project at High Street and Market Street was a marvel of
speed and efficiency. Couple of days ago, as I navigated a left turn
from High on to West Market Street in the morning, I noted that the
traffic lights were switched off, road workers were waving cars
through, and the work of adding left-turn lanes on both sides of High
Street had just begun.
“Ah,” I thought, “how many days will this this last? Should I seek an
alternative route? Would my next conversation with the EJ editors
revolve around the work ethic of state transportation workers?”
But lo and behold, when I returned to the intersection later that
evening, the road crew was gone, the traffic lights were functioning,
and best of all–High Street sported freshly painted left-turn lanes!
This is truly a significant achievement. Not perhaps on the scale of
landing a man on the moon, or getting a PLCB liquor kiosk to work
properly, but notable nonetheless. The project was completed in a
single day, traffic disruption was minimal, and now the EJ staffer on
his way to check out stories of alien landings can make left turns on
to Market with greater ease. These are the small things in life–a few
weeks from now, no one will recall the grimness with which one used to
make left turns at the intersection–but such are the things that
improve the quality of life in Elizabethtown, however imperceptibly.
One Down and One to Go: A turn lane is an improvement, but now we have to discover a way to stop motorists from running red lights at that intersection. I cycle through that intersection very often. When I am the lead vehicle in the queue as a cyclist, I must be ready for the light change, else suffer the wrath of impatient motorists behind me. Without hyperbole, I would estimate that for at least half of the light cycles, motorists on Market Street pass through the intersection when the light is red.
Actual I think I would like to be able to pass the e-town borough limits with coffee still in the large cup that I just purchased at one of our fine downtown coffee houses. Synchronize the lights, lets move our citizenry to where ever they are headed, so that they arrive with coffee in there cups just like their friends from from more technologically advanced municipalities. More effective use of coffee should be our goal.