Heads up about the new traffic pattern on the 5th Street bridge

I thought the city's email about the lane shift was just another notice nobody reads, but it's actually a huge deal. They closed the right lane for construction yesterday, and it backed traffic up past the old mill, adding a solid 20 minutes to my drive. The cones start way earlier than the sign says, so if you're heading into downtown, get in the left lane before you see the river. Has anyone found a better route to avoid this mess, maybe cutting through the industrial park?

2 comments

2 Comments

sageadams1h agoTop Commenter

Classic city planning. They probably used the same map from when the bridge was a horse crossing.

alex30747m agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, the "horse crossing" line from @sageadams is spot on. You see this all the time where I live. They'll widen a road but leave the ancient, tiny sewer drains from like 1910, so the first big rain floods the whole new lane. Or they'll add a bike path that just suddenly ends at a four lane road because that's where the old town limit was. It's like they're just tracing over a faded old drawing without looking up at what's actually there now.