We’re ready to turn the calendar page to October and Michiganders are still hoppin’ and boppin’ to the orange barrel polka out there. In our neck of the woods, thankfully, the final phase of the Fort Street construction will wrap up in a few weeks after two long, dust-filled years which has been a nightmare to local residents and businesses. Well, our reward for the inconvenience is four miles of wider roads, new traffic signals and new sewers to the tune of $40 million dollars.

The first phase included Lincoln Park, so we were spared alot of the latter extended mess, but now the County has been resurfacing Fort Street and tarring the top of each street. I stopped walking along Fort Street since the tar dribbles were sticking to my shoes at every street I crossed. The workers made a slopping mess by putting so much tar on the road that it looks like the La Brea Tar Pits and the weather on the horizon will spell one hot, gooey mess for sure.

When I finally made it out for a walk after the morning rain, it was for just a petite promenade. I thought I’d just stay in the neighborhood because of the mess on Fort Street. First, I went down one street and there was a striping crew so I switched over to the next street where a jackhammer was both piercing and pounding the pavement so I took still another detour. Alas, all was calm while a group of workers sat on the porch steps sipping from Tim Horton take-out cups while waiting for the churning cement mixer to finish tumbling their cement so they could get troweling. (I was not wearing my fluorescent Cement Masons shirt today so I didn’t feel obligated to ask if they needed a hand.)

‘Tis the season for construction in Michigan and we know that those same crews will be back for repairs and patching after a few hard Michigan Winters take their toll on the roads. Turning the calendar over to October we know only too well that those wintry days are not far off.