Bryan W. Alaspa 1Chicago’s two seasons
June 15th 2009 13:28
There is a saying around town in Chicago and, sadly, it is very, very true. The saying says there are only two seasons in Chicago: winter and construction. Of course, one generally leads to the other, but it can be very frustrating when summer comes and all of your routes to everywhere are suddenly filled with construction.
Winter hits us hard here in Chicago. Again, we do have summer time here and it gets warm, but during the winter the cold and the snowplows and the whole freezing and thawing thing wreaks havoc on our streets. Before you know it, you almost need one of those moon rovers to drive around here as the potholes grow to roughly the size of your average Buick. Entire cars with families, the children with their noses pressed to the windows, disappear into these things.
So, that means work for the road construction crews during the summer. These guys have to patch up these holes. For a long time it seems like there are small crews just driving around dumping tiny amounts of asphalt into the holes. Of course, this just leaves ridges and bumps instead of holes, so it really doesn’t help. Eventually, of course, the entire street needs to be chewed up and resurfaced.
Before you know it, you are driving the most insane and convoluted routes to try and get anywhere. I have seen GPS devices short out and remove themselves from dashboards and hurl themselves out of car windows. Why? Because they are trying to find routes around the construction.
I am betting there is some kind of scandal or corruption involved in who gets the construction contracts. At the very least, in Chicago, there is plenty of work for people. There are always more holes to fill (if you can pardon the pun and you may now make your own innuendo).
Of course, there are always more holes and bad streets than there are days in the warm months to patch them. This just means that when winter hits it makes the remaining holes bigger while making new ones in the places already patched by the crews during the summer. It is a strange kind of cycle of life here in the Windy City.
So, enjoy the construction season. The smell of tar, the frustrating traffic jams. I suggest loading your iPod with your favorite soothing music and trying to relax. Yelling and honking horns just makes the potholes angry.
Winter hits us hard here in Chicago. Again, we do have summer time here and it gets warm, but during the winter the cold and the snowplows and the whole freezing and thawing thing wreaks havoc on our streets. Before you know it, you almost need one of those moon rovers to drive around here as the potholes grow to roughly the size of your average Buick. Entire cars with families, the children with their noses pressed to the windows, disappear into these things.
So, that means work for the road construction crews during the summer. These guys have to patch up these holes. For a long time it seems like there are small crews just driving around dumping tiny amounts of asphalt into the holes. Of course, this just leaves ridges and bumps instead of holes, so it really doesn’t help. Eventually, of course, the entire street needs to be chewed up and resurfaced.
Before you know it, you are driving the most insane and convoluted routes to try and get anywhere. I have seen GPS devices short out and remove themselves from dashboards and hurl themselves out of car windows. Why? Because they are trying to find routes around the construction.
I am betting there is some kind of scandal or corruption involved in who gets the construction contracts. At the very least, in Chicago, there is plenty of work for people. There are always more holes to fill (if you can pardon the pun and you may now make your own innuendo).
Of course, there are always more holes and bad streets than there are days in the warm months to patch them. This just means that when winter hits it makes the remaining holes bigger while making new ones in the places already patched by the crews during the summer. It is a strange kind of cycle of life here in the Windy City.
So, enjoy the construction season. The smell of tar, the frustrating traffic jams. I suggest loading your iPod with your favorite soothing music and trying to relax. Yelling and honking horns just makes the potholes angry.
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