Deal with construction constructively
Sometimes Moscow feels like a land of continual construction. If it’s not one highway that’s been shut down to a single lane of gravel, it’s the other. Campus feels like it is subject to a series of continuous projects. The orange cones never leave, instead they just migrate around the town, blocking off different streets and parking lots.
Cy Whitling
It’s tempting to get frustrated with this never ending cycle of destruction and building. It is easy to focus on the process and not the result. They tell me that in some places they do all the construction at night and residents are never inconvenienced by closed streets. While I can’t help wishing Moscow would do this I‘ thankful for the construction.
We’ve all been there, running late when we run into that deathly crawl that is traffic through a construction zone. It feels like life and liberty are on the line when forced to stop and wait because the city is fixing some pothole that should have been filled five years ago.
Don’t give in to the primal urge to beat on the horn and spew profanities at the orange vested imbecile ruining your day. Don’t release your inner cave man and resort to muttered grunts and curses as you wave your fist at that ultimate bearer of bad news: the “slow, construction zone” sign.
As a construction worker, I got to experience both sides of this coin. I was desperately close to being late to work every day as I navigated the continual construction between Pullman and Colfax. Then, once I finally did arrive at work I got to make other people late to work as I maneuvered a heavily laden dump truck through tiny residential neighborhoods. The duality of this existence was not lost on me.
At my daily stops, waiting for the stop sign to spin to “slow” my angry scowls slowly transformed into friendly nods. I no longer revved my engine and prayed for lighting to strike the sign holders. Instead I tried to make conversation with the bored sign holders.
I realized construction is not the problem but rather the solution. Without these isolated cases of inconvenience, our daily travels would be infinity less speedy and easy. When was the last time you were thankful for a newly fixed road? When was the last time a filled pothole made you happy?
Don’t let construction have only a negative effect, don’t let it just bring you down. Save frustration for the decrepit buildings and roads that require the necessary evil of repair and instead focus on the positive.
Next time a construction crew slows you down go find a freshly poured road and ride a bike or skateboard down it. Appreciate the smooth flow of new asphalt. Don’t focus on the orange vests and spinning signs, instead, as that great sage Michael Jordan said, “Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.”
Cy Whitling can be reached at [email protected]