file photo by Boyd Loving
Road Warrior: Rte. 17’s sad, never-ending song
NOVEMBER 12, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
THE RECORD
Ping!
As anyone with one foot on the gas pedal and an eye on the GPS knows, that sound is technology’s quaint way of telling us there’s traffic congestion ahead – a turn of events that can make grown-ups talk back to their global positioning systems.
“Tell me something I didn’t know,” I told the noisy little screen on my dashboard.
When you drive on Route 17, you expect such things. It was Monday and my Honda and I were approaching the Garden State Parkway in Paramus where crews were toiling at revising a connection that might someday make moving between these two asphalt marvels the kind of safer, seamless driving experience it should be.
But no, this wasn’t the sour song that my GPS was singing or pinging about. This backup was centered on the Ridgewood Avenue exits where a new restaurant is being built. It’s the same location that a persistent caller, Richard Compagnone, had been telling me about.
“In 55 years of driving, I can’t remember a construction job so small taking so long,” said Compagnone. “What’s going on?”
On the surface, what’s going on is a relatively small job to build a Panera Bread sandwich shop and connect it to necessary pipes and wires. But what was really going on was a tiny example of the daily delays and heart-pounding danger that, according to reader feedback, easily make Route 17 Bergen County’s least-favorite highway. Spurred by low gas prices and population growth, this north-south artery is experiencing some retail growth and even heavier-than-usual traffic.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/rte-17-backups-seem-worse-than-ever-1.1453819
It is taking an inordinately long time to finish that Panera. Palms need greasin’…
Great! Let’s add injury by building a massive ball field right on Route 17, Schedler. Funny the picture, heading this article, is right at the Schedler turn, across from Shell Gas (soon to be 7eleven). The trucks, drugs, racing cars, commuter buses can all crash there. Park with a 7eleven right across the street? Get ready for kids crossing and walking up the highway. No worries…pedestrians have the right of way. Good ole 3amigos say…lets make sure to keep each project isolated so residents have no idea about the colliding overall impact.
you’re right 1:06. too dangerous. sell it.