One of the silver linings I’m seeing with the whole State of California on lockdown is that the roads are getting some much-overdue maintenance work done to them. With an exponential decrease in the amount of cars on the road, what better time than now to fill in those potholes and repave a major thoroughfare. No need to worry about the coronavirus, because workers would be outdoors where the air naturally circulates and it’s very easy to socially distance.
A few weeks ago I was a part of a skeleton crew for my job that physically went to campus for work, and to my surprise, 19th Avenue was down to one lane from the normal four. Crews were taking the opportunity to repave the busy boulevard while traffic levels are historically low. Ironically closing it down to a single lane caused a traffic jam of its own with the few remaining cars: it took me a good 15 minutes just to get out of the area and on my way back home, which was slightly annoying because with shelter-in-place happening, I had expected to commute in record time (traveling at normal speeds, mind).
This Summer there was to be a planned shutdown of the super busy section Highway 101 at the Highway 280 interchange for three whole weeks. The need for seismic retrofit to the aging elevated structure is paramount, no matter the absolute traffic hell that is for sure to happen as a consequence of shutting down the freeway. I mean, it’s not like our region is famous for earthquakes or anything. Nonetheless, the fear of massive congestion during construction can now be allayed because the city have moved the project up by months; work actually starts this weekend.
I am greatly looking forward to some beautifully smooth roads once things return to normal.
The games we play.