Yellow Lights, Orange Cones, Constructions Zones

The horse and buggy-men of old, although no doubt hindered by bumpy muddy roads, horse waste, and an occasional run-in with a fellow rider, never did have to contend with the entire city of La Crosse under construction restrictions at once, or have to wait along the long funnel of traffic for a yellow arterial light every fourteen seconds.

As La Crosse becomes more and more the small city with big city problems, we can now claim that the yellow light is as common to see as the red or green.  If you are a main driving thoroughfare along the guts of the city, you had better prepare for the long slow violence of improvement, as city drivers now find it a sport and a pastime to rush yellows like waving race flags.

We duck and weave (past the yellow lights now, rushing toward the next yellow then red), in and under a forest of cranes noodling the noses of our cars like preying cats, hopeful that the deep and expected tolerance of fellow citizens will hold until winter time when, just as snow falls, the roads might open up so the plows can then begin the process of taking off the freshest layer of asphalt. 

For many, the logic goes that it's certainly a good sign to see orange in your city as it indicates improvement and not just wasted or idle funds.  In La Crosse, however, given the green light, so to speak, means that the entire map is open for simultaneous transformation, barely leaving room on any given sidewalk to move about freely.  I think we always thought there was somebody watching blueprints of it all happening at once and that some brave soul might bark out loud "hey, let's leave them a road or two open at the same time so that they can move around the city a little."  Maybe it's time for the horse and buggy to re-appear and start this experiment all over again.