Red light, green light

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

Saratoga needs traffic lights.

I’ll wait for you to calm down from that statement before I continue. 

Take a couple deep breaths, maybe look at this week’s editorial cartoon and take a sip of coffee.

Better? Ok.

Saratoga needs traffic lights.

Look, I hate writing that probably as much as you hate reading it, but I think it’s a hard truth that needs to be heard. Since moving back into town limits a little over a year ago, I’ve discovered that our sleepy little town is not nearly as sleepy and little as I remember it being when I was growing up. 

To be honest, it’s not really pedestrian friendly and things just seem … busier.

I recall, nearly a decade ago, reading a feature about Saratoga and the one statement that has stuck with me is how it was a small town where even a semi-truck would stop to let somebody cross the road. Well, those days are certainly long gone. Our town is growing.

On just about any day of the week, a walk to the post office seems to take longer and longer. It’s not because I’m stopped by anyone who wants to chat about the most recent town council meeting or ask about coverage of a particular event—though that does happen—but because I end up waiting at the corner of 1st Street and Bridge Avenue for what seems like several minutes for a rush of vehicles.

If I’m lucky, there are times when cars going both directions along Highway 130—which becomes 1st Street once it enters town limits—stop to let me pass. Sometimes, only one car stops while vehicles going the other direction speed on through and, for that brief moment, I feel as if myself and the stopped driver have a shared frustration.

More often than not, however, it seems as if I’m waiting for the traffic to thin out.

The 2016 Saratoga Master Plan—the one that barely gets mentioned since it was accepted nearly five years ago—has something to say about the pedestrian access in town.

“Pedestrian and bicycle facilities within the Town of Saratoga are at best limited and at worst nonexistent,” reads the 256 page document. “Evaluating the existing pedestrian access and how it currently functions within the traffic routes is a key component to any master plan and essential for addressing immediate utility and safety concerns as well as future planning.”

Additionally, as a driver, I would add that the intersection of 1st Street and Bridge Avenue—especially exiting East Bridge—is equal parts frustrating and anxiety inducing.

As parking fills up in downtown Saratoga or trucks with trailers need a place to park it is often on the east side of the main thoroughfare. With limited visibility on either side when that happens, you have to hit the gas pedal and pray to your preferred deity in hopes that someone isn’t clipping through town.

Coming back to the traffic lights.

Okay, I’ll pause.

Take a deep breath.

Anyway, the traffic lights. These don’t have to be humongous traffic lights that one sees in cities that hang over the streets and would, undoubtedly, decrease the amount of sidewalk space downtown. Surely there could be something done to erect traffic lights that can be seen by vehicles of all sizes while still holding onto that small-town charm that brings so many people here.

Of course, this doesn’t have to be the only solution but it is probably the least costly. When one considers the amount of time and money it would take to plan, develop and construct a highway bypass around Saratoga it seems that such an idea would be doomed to fail from the start.

While the maintenance and care of traffic lights is costly in itself, when compared with the maintenance of yet another main street it is likely more affordable.

As spring approaches and I begin to walk to work on a regular basis again, I imagine the desire for some simple traffic lights will only increase.

 

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