I love Ames, I love the people, the environment, the lack of closed garage doors, I love it all. Ames has a tendency to always do things right, so when something goes wrong, I start complaining. Let’s talk about the roadwork.

Having nice roads is essential to a good town, I understand that and I appreciate that. However, the never ending road work on 24th makes me very bitter. The road work started in late-May, around the end of the school year, since then, this project has been dragging on. During the summer, we tolerated the road closures. However, today, almost 3 months into the school year, my tolerance level is no more.

24th street is a crucial part of most of Ames High’s journey to school. I think most student/teacher drivers have at one point in the school year been personally attacked by the roadwork there. In the morning 24th street is a mess. There are cars everywhere, cones everywhere, people everywhere. The small lanes make it very difficult to drive let alone have 50 cars in front and behind you. The line to turn into Ames High usually stretches from the 4 way junction all the way to probably Huxley.

Personally, I drive a Honda civic that is as about big as a fetus. It is difficult for my car to even fit into the tiny lanes without hitting one of the cones. Imagine a huge truck or basically any other car trying to fit within those lanes. The over complicated detour I had to take daily to get home was ridiculous, allowing me to have a lot to say about this.

Most believe that the reason this has taken as long as it has is due to the constant rain during the summer. However, I think that the roadwork taking this long is inexcusable. The new road is very nice, but at what cost?