College Park, Maryland…The way it is.

At this point and time the thing that is most concerning is traffic in my home town. Please do not take this as a reflection of how I feel about College Park, instead think of it as me sharing what little wisdom I have picked up over the years as I traveled all over the country.

First a little background. I love to drive, at my best, I drove from Wichita Kansas to Baltimore Maryland in 24 hours. See I was stationed in Kansas in the late 80’s, I would drive home on leave. Given the choice I would drive wherever the Air Force sent me. Indianapolis, Columbus, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, it didn’t matter.

Here is the thing; it is obvious when you come across a city where traffic management is an afterthought. You know, they have no idea what it's like to be Dallas, Los Angeles, heck even Silver Spring Maryland or Washington D.C.

Anyway, here is the problem I have with College Park Traffic.

Every time they have a dollar to spare they add another light to Route 1; doesn’t matter if only a handful of cars ever approach that intersection they will install it AND it will trigger by time not by motion or switch.

Stick with me just one minute. Within a 2 mile stretch of Route 1 there is no less than 15 traffic signals. This is the lifeline, heartbeat of College Park and the University of Maryland and this road cuts the college in half.

Keep in mind this road is shared with 37,000 university students, 31,000 College Park Residents and upwards of 15,000 commuters that travel to the district on a daily basis.

Here is where it gets fun. These 15 traffic signals are not timed to coincide with each other, instead they are set to be green, ONE LIGHT AT A TIME. Which means, during rush hour, you may have to sit through the same light two, even three times because the next light is red while yours is now green and there is only room in the next queue (space between red lights) for 5 cars.

I have often seen traffic back up through the entire city. Now imagine the situation during a major Maryland Terrapins football game or even worse, the college graduation.

Look, for the most part I can live with it; I don’t even mind sitting through 15 traffic signals at 2AM while the streets are barren. I can also muddle through sitting through a light in which I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANOTHER CAR IN THAT INTERSECTION WAITING TO CROSS. I get it, speed kills, but all the same what is very worrisome to me is the new 115 million dollar hotel they are building to accommodate its new Big Ten status. Joy, joy… add another 5 thousand to the traffic pool.

People live on the edge already; get the kids ready, drop them off at the babysitter, rush to work, rush to the grocery store, cook dinner, cleanup, bathe the kids, get them to bed, drop in a heap on the bed and contemplate doing it all again tomorrow.

And no one has the sense to try to ease some of that frustration.

Okay, well I work nights so that frustration cannot be half as bad as the morning commuters. Trust me, however, the aggravation is still there. I cannot imagine what it would be like with normal day shift workers. I have to pray for them every single day.

Enough of that, aside from traffic, I have to say there is not a single place in the entire world that I would rather live. It is, for the most part, very accepting, very tolerant community. We are close knit town that appears to look out for each other and we have a...well one of the best mayor you could have..

And from the limited encounters I have had with our town council, they will do whatever it takes.

Summing it all up, I LOVE MY CITY….I HATE THE TRAFFIC, now all they have to do about it is fix it.