I spend about 7 1/2 hours on the road each week. Probably not a lot compared to some people, but still … it is a lot. About a half hour drive to work from Fort Worth to Grapevine each way. Another fifteen minute drive from east Fort Worth to south Fort Worth for church. And a twenty minute drive from east Fort Worth to far south Fort Worth to work with the Karen refugees on Saturdays. That adds up to a bunch of commuting.
I have a standard driving pattern that I know gets me from point A to point B fastest, and then when I get bored, I might change the route up a little to and from work. It is interesting how on a commute one develops an affinity with the landscape and surroundings. Not only do I have a home space and a work space, but I also have a drive space.
There are many curiosities in my drive space. The fancy house back in the country that would look ritzy except for the goats and llamas occasionally on the front lawn. The River Bottom Pub which would not get noticed except that it is a good landmark for giving people directions. The school zones I have to drive through and remember not to be on my phone while doing so (three of them). But most of all, one notices the changes …
Like, the italian restaurant (well it is now), that used to be three other things in the last 12 years. And the road work on Trinity Blvd. We used to have to wait for the train, now the road goes over it. That improved the road but also increased the traffic. My back way to work through “the bottoms” of the Trinity River basin is no longer the back way for a lot of people. With all these changes came dead man’s hill. Okay, I never actually saw a dead man there, but a sufficient name for the number of wrecks increasingly happening at that juncture.
You see, the road was widened, and housing developments built, but no traffic signals existed, only stop signs on the side roads. So if you wanted to turn onto Raider Drive, you had to take your life into your own hands because you couldn’t see the traffic speeding up the hill toward you where you were about to turn.
But something new arrived in my drive space the other day. A working brand spanking-new traffic signal at Trinity Blvd and Raider Drive. Wise money spent by the City of Fort Worth. What a relief to wait for the green arrow and just turn left when it was my turn. A minor detail in the world. No one will remember the May of 2010 when that traffic signal went in … except some day if I have kids and drive past that turn and say … I remember when this was just an old country road crossing the railroad track and that house over there had llamas in the front yard.
Don’t just ignore your commute through your drive space, it is history developing around you. You were there for it, you are a part of it. Without you, the road would have no purpose. Be observant and you just might develop an affinity for your drive space too.
Attorney Notes 