October 20, 2023
The road to improvements can be long and arduous, but the end results never cease to amaze.
Last summer, I received notice that my city would be replacing the pipes and redoing the storm drains on my street. I was excited about not having my water run through old lead pipes, but I didn’t find the estimated timeline of work exciting: one year.
After a few false starts, work began in November 2022, around Thanksgiving. As I write this, the work is still ongoing.
There have been phases of work involving all sorts of heavy machinery digging several feet into the ground, tearing up driveways and sidewalks, laying pipes and pouring concrete. There have also been changes in traffic patterns, road closures, gigantic holes covered by steel grates, planned water shutoffs and unplanned water shutoffs.
In fact, I’ve gotten so used to the noises between the