Traffic calming on Lyndale South

Lyndale is sorta complete, it appears. By complete, I mean that it is connected from the freeway in the North to the Parkway in the South and that the construction equipment is (mostly) out of the way and stripes are down. Hurrah!

This is good or bad news depending upon your view of the glass -- half full or half who-the-hell-drank-half-my-whisky. Lyndale is is reborn from about 40th south to the Parkway, complete with turn lanes, parking cut-outs and manner of swervy concrete on the sides of the street and sometimes in the middle of the street. Gone is the almost-wide-enough-for-two-lanes lanes and the unimpeded motion for blocks at a time. Now we are looking at one lane for forward traffic, and one lane only mind you, and a copious sprinkling of new stop signs to keep the cagers in line. Lots of things in the way and ways to make the cars move slowly down the street. Traffic calmed, as it were.

Now, in an earlier, more rush-ed (Shakespearian pronunciation, two syllables please) age, I would be angered by said modernization. But now, as a less rush-ed person, a bicyclist and one who is beginning to appreciate the urban landscape, I applaud the changes. There is room to bike without fear of some dingleberry in a SUV driving over you in his imaginary second lane. Lanes are no wider than necessary for a car and turn lanes and parking abound. Rah-rah, good show lads.

As a I'm-just-bloody-glad-there-is-still-whisky in my glass sort of fellow, I cheer along with what I can I can only hope are the people who live along the street; no longer are they and theirs threatened by speeding vehicles and your "Please Slow Down, We Live Here" signs can be given to more deserving folks now along other streets. I've already noticed a kinder, gentler traffic while biking home from rescuing my dear Mrs' purse from the Bulldog. It seems that folks were kind enough to let me pass cars parked in the new cut-outs and then passed when I moved out of the lane -- no tailgating, no horns, nothing.

I like it already, more like this please...