The Trials and Tribulations of Driving

Commuting toward destinations these days have been a hassle and you encounter delays around every corner. With the winter weather coming up, one would assume that the roads are fit for such travel. It is New England after all. However, if weather such as today proves anything, the roads are not our friends. Even in simple rainy weather, it just erodes what decent paved roads we have, leaving potholes that are not going to go away on their own.

Apparently, the solution to these blemishes of our roads is to fill the potholes with dirt/asphalt. If anything, the asphalt just makes a mess, of both the road itself and your car. While it is true that there is something being done about it, this something is not the answer. The potholes just magically reappear after rain or even just a length of time. However, it would seem that these problems are being fixed since construction appears to be at an all-time high.

With construction everywhere you turn these days, a hope would be to make old or decrepit roads safe for winter driving, or just driving in general. There had been a moment in time where an entire commute of mine had construction at practically every intersection. This in itself probably tagged on another fifteen to twenty minutes onto my already long drive. The only reassurance behind this was the fact that the construction was going to improve the roads and my overall commute eventually. This does not stop the fact that during construction, you cringe as your exhausts grind over steep pavement and rocks fly into your windshield. However, this is not the worst problem to encounter.

Obviously, some people would view construction as a good investment because it’s a way towards improvement. I would agree with this, if this construction had a reliable and effective way in handling itself. The main problem with construction is the lack of thought behind traffic patterns. It is not a good idea to conduct construction at peak rush hour times. This will cause accidents and various other hardships for both the drivers and construction workers. One would assume this would be an easy problem to solve.

However, since the peak hours are around 7-10 in the mornings and 5-8 at night, this does not leave much leeway for much construction time. Basically we are looking at a time frame of 11- 4, which is only five hours. Another option would be night construction, which would be great for roads such as highways, but for populated areas it is not possible due to noise disruptions.

So what sort of answer does this leave? The problem is there is no answer; there will always be reasons to hate the commute where construction is present because of the extra hassle. However, it is prudent to remember that once this construction is done, no doubt your commute will be a smoother ride in the end.