To start, my sincerest apologies to all of the Seattlites I triggered with the title. Know that if this is too sensitive a topic, you can skip this post because it is mainly so others can understand a HINT of what we experience daily.
Every time the dean of students emails the school, my heart sinks a little because typically, the updates aren’t necessarily uplifting. But this one was particularly devastating.
He forwarded us an email from the department of transportation informing us that the two northbound lanes on I-5 would be closed until the summer (a momentary pause for the World Cup) and then would resume next fall.
How Seattle can’t manage to repave two lanes in less than six months is truly a mystery. But still, it would be fine (I guess) if it didn’t have very big implications. Like, just don’t take I-5 to school and it’ll all be okay, right?
Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Typically, southbound I-5 has the express lanes going south as well, but they gave them to the northbound side to make up for the two lanes.
Essentially, SDOT has rid us southbounders of four lanes. Four. Lanes. So absolutely everyone north of Lake Union is taking alternative routes.
As a carpool driver warrior, I’ve been leaving my house at around 7:05 to pick up four other people and get to school with at least 10 minutes before the second bell rings and class starts. That has all changed. What typically is a 17–20-minute drive has turned into 30 minutes of desperation and darkness. I check Google Maps, Apple Maps, even Waze, for the best route. I’ve tried them all—Montlake, University Bridge, and every way to get to them. The traffic has infested every street in Seattle. Late start days are the worst, which is a very strange thing to say, but it took me one hour to get to school. I didn’t even know that was possible. The apps try to trick me too, saying that I will get there at 7:30, when I actually end up getting to school at 7:44. Mind you, classes start at 7:45. I’m constantly waiting in traffic, hoping that I will get lucky with the green lights, but of course, that never happens.
Currently, I have two tardies, and it has barely been one month of the second semester. If I get four tardies, I get detention, or as my school calls it, JUG (Justice Under God). Personally, I don’t think God would believe that I deserve punishment for simply being collateral damage in the I-5 wars, but my feeble opinion doesn’t outweigh the school’s (probably God-mandated) handbook.