A month or two ago our local newspaper had as their front page feature article the traffic mess that we deal with on a daily basis. They have called it "The 520 Vortex," but I call it "a pain in the backside."
To put it simply this is where quite a few roads come together; a major freeway, and four or five major surface streets. What the main trouble is that these roads are all four lanes and the freeway is one lane for a little bit before it goes to two lanes or even more if you are going west. Bad planning on their part, but we, the voters, took the money away from them 10 years ago when we voted something down. They had the money to make the overpass two way each way, but we stopped them just a few inches away from making it two lanes. Bad on us OR maybe bad on the government for letting so many developers build homes around here. For over 10 years there have been citizens who have fought some major developers who have, well, to put it quite honestly--they lied! The people who bought those home do not work there nor do they shop there. They drive to Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue and the like. They are just (10 years after the first tree was cut down) opening up the first elementary school. It really doesn’t matter whose feet we should put the blame at because what is done is done.
What makes me very upset is the letters to the editor after this article appeared in the newspaper. "Blame those who don't live close to where they work." "Blame the people for wanting space to raise their children." and on and on the drivel spews.
What if while working for a company they move their office from one side of town to the other? That happened to us. My husband has worked for one company and has had an office in many different offices all over town. I could only imagine those who work for Boeing! Kent, Renton, Everett, Bellevue, Seattle and who knows where else their offices are. How do we pick a home that way? Move every few years or months? What if you wife works in one town and your husband works in another? Do you have separate homes? What if you can't afford a home next to your work? Around here that is very, very possible. I know our first home was quite a ways away because we couldn't find a home in next to the office because the prices were outrageous. What happens if you want a good school district?
I know there are many reasons to pick the place you live. We had many reasons to pick this home. We only live about 8 miles from my husband's work place. That isn't very far and it shouldn't take 40 minutes to drive home, but it does and we just live with it, but wish there would be a fix to "The Vortex." And we hope it sooner than later.
To put it simply this is where quite a few roads come together; a major freeway, and four or five major surface streets. What the main trouble is that these roads are all four lanes and the freeway is one lane for a little bit before it goes to two lanes or even more if you are going west. Bad planning on their part, but we, the voters, took the money away from them 10 years ago when we voted something down. They had the money to make the overpass two way each way, but we stopped them just a few inches away from making it two lanes. Bad on us OR maybe bad on the government for letting so many developers build homes around here. For over 10 years there have been citizens who have fought some major developers who have, well, to put it quite honestly--they lied! The people who bought those home do not work there nor do they shop there. They drive to Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue and the like. They are just (10 years after the first tree was cut down) opening up the first elementary school. It really doesn’t matter whose feet we should put the blame at because what is done is done.
What makes me very upset is the letters to the editor after this article appeared in the newspaper. "Blame those who don't live close to where they work." "Blame the people for wanting space to raise their children." and on and on the drivel spews.
What if while working for a company they move their office from one side of town to the other? That happened to us. My husband has worked for one company and has had an office in many different offices all over town. I could only imagine those who work for Boeing! Kent, Renton, Everett, Bellevue, Seattle and who knows where else their offices are. How do we pick a home that way? Move every few years or months? What if you wife works in one town and your husband works in another? Do you have separate homes? What if you can't afford a home next to your work? Around here that is very, very possible. I know our first home was quite a ways away because we couldn't find a home in next to the office because the prices were outrageous. What happens if you want a good school district?
I know there are many reasons to pick the place you live. We had many reasons to pick this home. We only live about 8 miles from my husband's work place. That isn't very far and it shouldn't take 40 minutes to drive home, but it does and we just live with it, but wish there would be a fix to "The Vortex." And we hope it sooner than later.