CRANKY COMMUTE? IT WON’T LAST FOREVER

Within the last year, mass amounts of road construction have been surrounding MHCC. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal for road construction to occur during the Fall Term, but this time it seems worse than normal. The work on the streets around campus has had a negative impact on student’s’ arrival time at school. This goes for carpool, personal drivers, and students who rely on public transportation.

It’s not just the roads around the campus, either.

There seem to be massive projects all over the city of Gresham. This causes traffic to be backed up and slowed to the point where drivers/riders could be sitting there a while without even moving an inch.

There have been anecdotes from MHCC students who claim that they only live five-to-10 minutes from the campus, but with all the road work it now takes them half an hour just to get here.

All this road work will have positive results by the time it’s done, but it acts as a huge inconvenience to everyone who uses those roads in their day-to-day lives.

For example, for a while construction along Northeast Kane Drive was blocking the TriMet bus stop closest to the school. The bus had to pick up and drop off its passengers in the middle of the street lanes. This is a safety issue, and it blocked all traffic behind the bus. 

So, what’s the upside of all this hassle?

The roadwork is largely due to construction crews replacing piping or electrical work, and making new sidewalks (the streets near the MHCC campus is focused on underground pipes, rather than repaving or expanding the roadway).

With the increasing population of Gresham, it is important that we adjust our roadways to accommodate the changes. The lack of sidewalks or bike lanes, and how narrow many of our older roads are, means we can’t safely transport the increased population. Gresham’s lack of sidewalks have always been an issue among those who can’t afford to take public transport or don’t own a personal mode of transport.

The projects are a necessary step for us as a city to grow stronger. If you find yourself arriving late to your classes due to the roadwork, then try adjusting your commute to properly fit your schedule and the obstacles that these improvements might raise.

Focusing on the negative isn’t going to speed up the process, or make it disappear. Instead of getting angry and harming your health, try looking toward the positives. Think about how much the amazing city of Gresham will be once all of this work is done.