Make traffic a priority

In June 2001, Bloomington began the College Mall Road project.\nIn April 2002, the first phase of the Miller Showers Park initiative between College and Walnut started.\nThis summer, East Third Street was blessed with some revamping of its own.\nConclusion: there's no swift way to anywhere in Bloomington.\nForget the living wage, forget zoning. With the mayoral election creeping up, will traffic be an issue?\nAt a news conference Tuesday, Bloomington mayoral candidate Fred Prall pledged to work with groups such as our beloved IU and the Indiana Department of Transportation to reduce traffic congestion.\nThe traffic ticket normally isn't a popular platform for political candidates, but his idea has pushed us to think.\nPrall's suggestion: Create a new thoroughfare through 13th Street.\nWhy not?\nWe could always use another construction project in town, and perhaps we can decide to tear up a road that isn't a primary transport route for once.\nConvenience.\nWhen voter turnouts for local elections aren't exactly the Lollapalooza of public minds in action that our democratic theorists hoped they would be, perhaps the old issues need to step aside. It seems that voters have developed a strong disconnect between themselves and public policy. \nHowever, we all have cars. \nNothing is nearer to the heart of every American than their four wheels of torque and horsepower. And if we're not utilizing those machines on our public roads to their full potential, if our multiple lanes become suddenly singular and we're forced to actually obey the speed limit, our democratic spirits sink. It seems certain that catering to this need for speed could be part of a plan the public could embrace. It has the possibility to bring voters out from under their beds.\nIs a new 13th Street the ultimate plan to cure Bloomington of her traffic woes? Maybe, maybe not. But perhaps it's worth the candidates' and their advisers' effort to make a thorough attempt at developing a number of feasible traffic solutions.\nSo it's not an issue now. Make it one. Voters are tired of the same old push and shove. The relative lack of controversy here makes it a godsend to your average politician, as it presents them an opportunity to out-think their opponent on an issue for which everybody would enjoy a workable solution. We don't want to look at numbers, chop at the books. Give us something we can relate to. Take grassroots, pave it and don't install any stop lights.\nBring us speed. Bring us breathing room on the road. Bring us a new way.