It must be Summer! #phenology?

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has work going on at two locations on I-35, near the crossovers at Hwy 97 and separately at Hwy 8. The North / South traffic between the Twin Cities and Duluth, plus lots of daily commuters, face delays or detours.

Before there was I-35, there was Hwy 61 (sometimes revisited), an alternative North / South route. Chisago County and the City of Stacy have a long section of that closed from County Road 19 North. So much for that alternative route to I-35.

not needed come Winter

Photo by J. Harrington

Our own township road also runs North / South but we hadn't noticed a large increase in traffic despite the closures and delays on I-35 and (old) Hwy 61. So, this past week, the township did a culvert replacement which, for some time, essentially closed our North / South travels. We understand the need for road maintenance and improvements, most of which can't be done in our North Country Winters. That helps explain why Minnesota is sometimes said to have two seasons: Winter and Road Construction. Highway departments do their best to minimize the inconvenience, we're sure. But there doesn't seem to be any requirement or process that mandates work be coordinated so that detours off of a state road don't get routed onto a county highway that's also experiencing road work. We think there needs to be a much better set of requirements, or better enforcement of any signage requirements that exist.

sign of Summer road sign

Photo by J. Harrington

The township crew had put a "Road work ahead" sign on the side of the road a couple of hundred yards before their culvert work which had the entire road block off. Drivers got to notice this as they came downhill and around a curve leading into a "steam shovel" and ditch closing the complete cartway. We think it would have worked much better if the township had put a "Road Closed Ahead" sign back where drivers could have readily taken a detour. That would have minimized the inconvenience to both drivers and the work crew which experienced at least one stoppage to let us pass after we had skidded to a halt at their blockage.

There are other road signs that indicated Summer will soon be here. We've shared a couple above. Yet one more sign that Summer is practically upon us? Today we had our first ice cream cone of the season.

Road

By Lisa Williams

This is what poetry is (says the Road), 

a laying down of uniform pattern 

across a land you can't control 

but which you think it best to flatten. 

It's far from vivid. Look at the whole 

flamboyant forest! Look at the paths 

that can't be uttered by a mouth 

and at the scattered arcs of light 

more integral to this wide planet 

than words will ever be. Your lines? 

Like railroad tracks that cut the bracken, 

bring something through, then disappear. 

No one knows what speck was taken 

or where it moved, and no one cares.

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