Editor,
We are all in this together.
I'm talking about the traffic that now chokes our roads both in the mornings and starting about 2 p.m. every afternoon. There have been days when I've tried to turn left from Harts Lake Road onto Highway 702 and ended up doing a U- turn and going home. The line of waiting cars on 702 went out of sight.
There are people who make a gap and wave you in. I suspect that they are our fellow residents of our area rather than passing commuters, and they know how hard it is to get onto 702 or state Route 507 from any of the sideroads.
Thank you to every kind motorist out there.
You might think all those cars would be good for local businesses. Instead, what I have observed in McKenna, is that during the choke hours, motorists don't want to stop at Stewarts for some pepperoni or a cup of joe from the coffee stand as it is both difficult and dangerous to try to rejoin the flow of traffic. Do you want to pull into the Spooner's berry stand? Good luck
crossing traffic to get there or getting onto the road again.
I don't know any easy solution. More traffic lights to create gaps and slow the flow of cars? Roundabouts at intersections? Another bridge across the Nisqually River? I suspect none of us like those ideas, but we all know it's only going to get worse. All I can offer is the same small kindness that other residents offer me. If I see you trying to turn across traffic or pull into the flow of traffic from a side road, I'm going to slow down and make a gap for you. I'll cross my fingers and hope I don't provoke road rage in the car behind me.
Megan Lindholm
McKenna