{"id":23433,"date":"2017-07-31T01:25:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T01:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=23433"},"modified":"2017-07-31T01:25:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T01:25:31","slug":"road-woes-persist-in-amarillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=23433","title":{"rendered":"Road woes persist in Amarillo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/image3446524_web1_AMA_072917_BellBridge3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-23434\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/image3446524_web1_AMA_072917_BellBridge3-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/image3446524_web1_AMA_072917_BellBridge3-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/image3446524_web1_AMA_072917_BellBridge3.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some issues give me heartburn, particularly when they contain no easy solutions or options for those of us affected by them.<\/p>\n<p>Highway, street and bridge construction fall into that category.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m hearing some grumbling about a major reconstruction project underway here in Amarillo, Texas, that is causing grief for motorists and business owners nearby.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas Department of Transportation is knocking down a bridge that spans Interstate 40 at Bell Street. It&#8217;s causing serious traffic disruptions. The project will take months to complete. The bridge will be inoperable until November, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/amarillo.com\/local-news\/news\/business\/2017-07-29\/bell-street-bridge-construction-causes-major-delays-worries\">Amarillo Globe-News. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The state is spending more than $7 million on just that project alone! Oh, and then we have that Loop 335\/Hollywood Road reconstruction project on the south end of the city.<\/p>\n<p>How do the city&#8217;s residents and business owners cope with this madness and mayhem? With extreme patience, I venture to say. Whether this kind of work is being done in a mid-sized city such as Amarillo, or in a major metropolitan area, or even in a small rural community, someone, somewhere is going to get upset.<\/p>\n<p>Just the other day, I was running an errand that took me from my southwest Amarillo home to a location near Sunset Center. I drove north along Coulter, hoping to catch the freeway east to Western Street. That&#8217;s when I discovered the work being done on I-40. Crews were diverting every vehicle off the highway onto the frontage road.<\/p>\n<p>If I had been smarter and more attuned to what&#8217;s going on around the city, I would have taken Wolflin Avenue east from Coulter to my destination. I didn&#8217;t. I got stuck in traffic. Lesson learned for the next time I have to travel in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>I tend to avoid getting too worked up over these highway and street projects. I try to see it as a glass-is-half-full deal. I like to look at the big picture, take the long view.<\/p>\n<p>When it&#8217;s done, we&#8217;ll have a new bridge to cross when we travel north-south along Bell Street.<\/p>\n<p>I just hope the new span will lend some aesthetic quality to the highway. Heaven knows the city needs it.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some issues give me heartburn, particularly when they contain no easy solutions or options for those of us affected by them. Highway, street and bridge construction fall into that category. I&#8217;m hearing some grumbling about a major reconstruction project underway here in Amarillo, Texas, that is causing grief for motorists and business owners nearby. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=23433\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Road woes persist in Amarillo<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[179,276,2301,2826,4936],"class_list":["post-23433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-agn-media","tag-amarillo","tag-interstate-40","tag-loop-335","tag-txdot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23435,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23433\/revisions\/23435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}