Lawrence is out to get me

It's a conspiracy. I'm pretty sure it is. Lawrence is out to get me.

Traffic in Lawrence is not good at its best. And when it's bad... well, any of you big city people who like to sit on freeways for hours and hours would feel right at home.

If the traffic in Lawrence were not bad enough on its own, the problem is also compounded during the summer months by a lovely thing called "road construction." (They have this crazy idea that they need to fix everything during summer break [although they never get it all done and it lingers on until spring], since a good portion of the University of Kansas students are gone for the summer and supposedly this makes for less traffic. I, however, am firmly convinced that only the students who don't have cars leave during the summer.)

I've already bemoaned the closing of our bridge many, many times, so I won't go there. But now I'm pretty sure that it's a conspiracy because they are slowly cutting off all my routes to work.

There are three roads on one side of town I could use to get to work. One has been closed for about a year and a half. The other was closed a month or so ago. This dumps all the traffic from three roads onto the one road remaining open and makes it generally miserable to drive on. On a normal day, you can make it down the entire stretch of road without touching the gas pedal... just let off the brake for a second, roll forward a few feet, and stop again. Just in case I didn't get the idea that I was not to drive that direction, the road leading to these three roads is now under construction. It's closed down to one lane for 3 1/4 miles (thus says the sign posted as the construction nightmare begins) and any drivers brave (dumb?) enough to embark upon this terrain must sit and wait... and wait... and wait... and wait... until the traffic from the other direction finishes their 20 mile an hour crawl from the other side.

I found an alternate route. About two weeks ago, they tore up one of the main stretches of that route, squishing all the traffic into one lane on either side and making it more miserable than normal to drive up.

So, I find yet another route. As I drove to work this morning, I came to what it always a busy intersection. Apparently, they discovered my new route to work and were therefore in the process of gleefully demolishing a good portion of the intersection.

My only construction-free path to work is now to drive all the way around the city and come in from the opposite side. Of course, if I do that, it will be under construction within the next few days.

I'm pretty sure it's a conspiracy.