You've Got to Admit

May 14 2010 by Chris McGinnis

It's getting better. A little better all the time.

I caught myself humming that old Beatles song as I drove down Divisadero Street here in San Francisco last week.

Divisadero Street is one of those streets nearly every city has...it's a little gritty and congested, but you go there all the time...because you have to more than you want to. You go to buy cheap gas or get your car washed, to go to the bank, to get some fast food, to buy tires, or just to get across or out of town. (In Atlanta, it's Roswell Road. In Boulder, it's 36th Street. In Tucson, it's Speedway. I know you know that street in your hometown.)

roadway-reconstruction.jpgAnyway, Divisadero Street in San Francisco has recently gotten a huge makeover thanks to the Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also known as the federal stimulus program. For the past year or so, there's been an army of workers and trucks and tractors blocking traffic making lots of noise underneath a huge sign that reminded drivers of exactly where the money was coming from to fix the street.

Finally this month, the project is over. Driving along the newly paved street feels like velvet compared to the pockmarked and pitted old street. There's a new center median that's been planted with thousands of trees, bushes and grasses. Sidewalks and curbs are new. Bike lanes are full. New restaurants and cafes with outdoor seats are showing up. I don't mind driving down Divisadero Street at all any more.

Since most of the readers of this blog spend a lot of time on the nation's roads, I'm wondering if you are seeing improvements? Since February 2009, the ARRA has committed $26.6 billion to more than 12,000 road, highway and bridge projects across the country.

Are you seeing projects come to completion? Have you driven along a beautiful black ribbon of a freshly paved highway on a recent business trip? Is it getting better out there?

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