I don't get around as much as I used to. Working early morning hours, yada yada, but with St. Patrick's Day, I was around town; west side, downtown, Westnedge, and there is one thing that really caught me by surprise. It's only mid-March and it feels like the whole city is under construction.

East side, West side, all around the town

Driving into downtown from the northeast side, Kalamazoo Avenue was backed up at around 2:30 pm (and I know it's been that way for a while for the whole new county building project.) But Westnedge is backed up after Vine Street heading south. Stadium Drive, you can't escape this with the culvert replacement. Did I forget Riverview Drive? And Michigan Avenue needs resurfacing. It's one long bumpy ride, too.

Those are all city projects. The I-94 Portage Road widening/improvement is into year number two and feels like it will never end. Fingers cross, MIDrive says September 24th this year. We'll see. You can only blame supply chain problems for so long.

Parkview Avenue work starts Monday

And here's more: Parkview Avenue work begins Monday, March 21st. Now that stretch is from Oakland to the west, but a lot of cars head that way to the WMU School of Engineering and the Business Park. I guess it's safe to say, you can run but you can't hide, though that saying doesn't really make sense in this context.

Get our free mobile app

Let me ask you. Would it feel better, if you knew that once all this work is done, it was done. In other words, there's the feeling that, when this is done, then a whole new group of traffic cones will get set up and we'll go through this same exercise again, and then again and again. Enjoy your spring and summer.

Things Change: Downtown Kalamazoo 2007-2022

Taking a trip through time, around downtown Kalamazoo. Thanks to Google Street View, see how the landscape has changed in just 15 years

Kalamazoo County’s Most Dangerous Intersections

Michigan State Police Traffic Crash Reporting Unit data from 2020 shows these intersections are the most problematic for drivers.

More From 107.7 WRKR-FM