Searching for the solution

The man picking up his mail at the post office had been brooding about Saturday’s heart-rending traffic accident.
That stretch is way too dangerous, he said. It’s the scene of too many accidents. Traffic’s a little crazy there, and sometimes people become impatient.
Something, he said, ought to be done.
He was right, but the question of what to do was tougher to answer.
The new traffic light on West Votaw Street at Industrial Drive has helped, but it took an eternity to get the state to install the signal. The turn lanes have helped in some ways, but in a way they’ve led to higher speeds.
Another stoplight seems like a very tough sell. And done incorrectly, an extra light could back up traffic for blocks.
We shook our heads as we left the post office, stymied in our search for a solution.
But it’s a measure of the sense of loss and frustration the community feels that the man from the post office didn’t let the problem rest.
He called the newspaper office a couple of hours later.
Maybe this will work, he said. How about if the east entrance to the Walmart parking lot is changed to an entrance only? How about if Walmart traffic entered there and left only by the exit on Industrial Drive? Would that work?
We didn’t have an answer, though we know many folks who deal with Walmart traffic exactly that way, entering from the east and exiting at the west.
What matters is that the man wasn’t willing simply to give up on the problem.
He knew Portland Fire Chief Matt Aker pretty well. He liked and respected the man and shared our regret over seeing a young and vital leader suddenly gone.
Figuring out how to make a dangerous situation safer seemed like the best memorial possible. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]