Monday, November 7, 2011

Dear Danville.. Really???

Dear Danville, Vermilion County, Townships, State of Illinois,

Are you really freaking kidding me right now??
I have single handedly solved the unemployment issues in Danville.

People here in D-Vegas don't work, because they can't get to their jobs.

Of course I've been lectured about how different road construction projects are governed by different "departments". But tell me this, Do these "departments" not communicate with each other???

I am already on my "Plan C" route to and from work. I live in the Lincoln Park Historic District and I work at Thyssenkrupp Presta on East Gate..
On my way to work I take my daughter to Danville High School..
Ideally, I would drop her at the front doors of the high school and head East on Fairchild following it around Oregon (I think that's the name of it) and turning on Main Street at the light. Whelp that's out.. Fairchild has been closed for months due to a crumbling viaduct. And as I hear it, is slated to remain closed until 2013 or 2014..

So that means dropping her at school and zig zagging my way back to Voorhees to hit Lynch.
Hmmm.. On the news this morning I hear Voorhees/Lynch will be closed for railroad repair..
Oh joy.. Lets make it easier for more trains to travel through, because what ever agreement whoever made with whoever else, that allows an increased flow of rail traffic, doesn't already inhibit the steady flow of traffic.

So, I can't take Fairchild and I can't take Voorhees. Williams is out of the question because for whatever reason each corner on Williams holds three school bus stops that all pick up at the same time.
I seriously watched 3 school buses wait in line to pick up kids from the same corners.

Seminary is a bust because the rest of the town people trying to get from East to West or West to East or anywhere for that matter, are already flooding Seminary. And apparently no one thought that traffic flow through because no signal or stop sign provisions have been made to accommodate the increased flow of traffic.

My choices then, are Main St. and Winter.. Have you driven Main street during morning rush hour traffic?? oy vey. Make sure you plan your trip around the 7:15 and 7:28 rail schedule. And trust me if you hit one light on the main drag, you will hit them all.

Winter, although totally out of the way, would be okay. Taking the back roads is pretty quick.. But again, I would only be able to come out on to Voorhees BEFORE the road repair that is starting on Lynch. So I would have to back track to like Daisy Lane, or whatever road that is that TeePak is on.
Not to mention, the last time I took those backroads, they ended up being closed because they were laying new rock.
And let me just point out that Bowman was closed for how long so they could remove a hill in the road that was a dangerous blind spot. THE HILL IS STILL THERE, AND I STILL CAN'T SEE ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

So while crews were repairing pot holes, laying new gravel on already existing roads, removing hills that didn't really get removed, and making train tracks less "bumpy", the viaduct on Fairchild sits untouched. Sitting there letting the elements take an even bigger toll on the already crumbling walls..

I've pointed it out before, and I point it out again. It's much easier to hit I74 and head to the Champaign Walmart where the people are more friendly and the drive is less stressful.

As for a paycheck. It would be so much easier to sleep in until the crack of noon, get up one Tuesday of every month and punch a few numbers into an automated phone service and wait by the mail box for an unemployment notice that says my money is in my bank account (I don't even have to travel the dreaded Danville streets to get paid).

And while we're talking about travel in Danville. I'm all for the "round-a-bouts". They have them in Carmel and they really seem to keep traffic flowing.
But must we start yet another road construction project before we make it possible to get through other streets?
And really? A "round-a-bout" at one of the highest pedestrian intersections around. Kids walking to school, Cemetery walkers trying to get fit. Round-a-bouts are great for vehicle traffic, not so great for pedestrians.
And because the other roads that travel East to West are under construction, Voorhees has become a high truck traffic zone (Even though the bridge by the Spirit Shop has a limited weight capacity.

So Danville, enjoy your commute. enjoy waiting for the school buses to stop all all rail road crossings, delaying you just long enough for the safety arms to come down as it's your turn to cross. Enjoy the badly laid school bus schedule, enjoy the pretty colors of the detour signs spread throughout town.

And if in my fit of road rage, I flip you the bird, please do not take it personally.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Go ahead.. Comment.. It's okay..
Really...