Now, I know that giving props to construction workers is not exactly "up there" in the realm of popular things to do, but I just can't help it. I drive on Elm Hill Pike and under Briley Parkway every day on my way to and from work. I have been making this commute ever since I moved to Nashville, and construction on this intersection basically started as soon as I moved here (had I known, I would have looked for a place of residence on the same side of Briley as my office, but that's water under the bridge now), so I feel that I have seen the whole project from start to almost-finish. And I have to say, that things are really coming along!
When it comes to construction, I'm pretty much a six year old boy's brain in a 33 year old woman's body. I love all the various construction equipment, and could sit and watch them move earth around, break up concrete, and load rocks into trucks all day long. The power! The mobility! The excitement!
Every day is a surprise. One day I drove to work and the road was curving one way, and then I drove home after work and they had shifted the lanes over and things were totally different. I got on Briley by accident because I veered where I used to veer and it was an on-ramp instead of just a jog in the road!
But I back to the praise for the construction workers. They're really working hard and getting this project done. They work on Saturdays. They work early and late. They work at night with lights that are as bright as the sun. They hang from harnesses and balance on beams and eat dust for lunch and still keep plugging away at this big project that 98% of the people who drive on Elm Hill Pike every day would tell you will never be completed.
But I'm really seeing progress. I got on Briley Southbound and was on a whole new part of the road. They're pouring cement for the edge-of-road barriers so you can really see where the road will be, how the on- and off-ramps will work, and how they'll shift all the traffic on to the new bridge.
Maybe I'm a geek for being so excited about all of this. In fact, I'm almost sad to think that they're almost done. Erm, okay, maybe not. As much as I love construction, I love quickly flowing traffic even more.
1 comment:
Not to drag your post down, but I remembered the fact that a construction worker died in a wall collapse on this project. I searched, and searched to find a reference to it online. I spent nearly a half hour looking. The story seemingly has disappeared. I was shocked to find it happened back in 2005 (have we really lived here that long?!) and I was finally able to dig up this press release:
http://www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/news/TOSHA-cite-mountain-state.htm
It's humbling to think that someone lost their life to improve the quality of mine.
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