Sandy Boulevard

Dear Readers ~ please accept my apologies for abandoning you for so long! Tempus keeps fugiting, ever faster, and blog posts go unwritten. Sigh. I’ll try to do better!

What prompted me to sit down and put fingers to keyboard is the insanity that the city has undertaken at the complicated intersection of E Burnside, Sandy Boulevard, and 12th. It’s always been difficult and has needed some tweaking, but the tweak is going too far!

First, you have to understand that this intersection is part of the famed “Secret Back Way” to get from close in East side to the southern end of downtown (or, in my case, my place of employment). To throw a wrench into my commute is beyond aggravating. Nobody asked how I felt about this!

Work on the project started some weeks/months ago, but we just figured they were working on the sewer project ~ which seems to happen all over Portland, all the time. We didn’t think anything about it when they installed a concrete divider between the east and west bound lanes of Sandy; that just seemed like a safety precaution. We became slightly suspicious when large lighting/signal poles went up. Before we knew it, the street was blocked off and detour signs steered us away from our accustomed path. We still thought it was temporary. And then we discovered that they were closing Sandy permanently! No!

I’m not sure how this is going to work out long term. On the west bound route, one must now turn right onto Couch, left onto 12th, and then right onto Sandy or Burnside. In the east bound direction, one may turn right onto Burnside or left onto 12th. If we choose the right, we need to go either a couple of blocks up and make a left and work our way back to Sandy, or go up to 20th and turn left. Unfortunately, 20th is usually jam-packed during commute hours. If we choose to turn left at the intersection, we can go up 12th past Benson high school and either turn right on Irving or cross the freeway and take the swooping street behind Lloyd Center and turn right on Multnomah. It’ll take a little getting used to, that’s for sure.

I had planned to do a series of posts about Spring unfolding in the Northwest, but I got sidetracked by daily life. I still have plenty to write about in the floral realm, but there are other topics that beckon as well. Hang in there with me! I’m getting back on track!