Traffic Congestion

As the weeks of this shut down continue, walking can accomplish much. Rather than my solitary walks, I'm enjoying walks with a friend now and again to hear how her life is going. We try to walk on little-used routes to avoid the new phenomenon I call 'the Sidewalk Dance'. This is the to'ing and fro'ing that happens as you encounter people coming in the opposite direction.  

I actually feel anxiety when I see people coming. In our winter, with three feet of snow on the ground,  a long stretch of sidewalk without driveways or access to the road can make it problematic on how to avoid each other. The anxiety is heightened by the knowledge that we are within miles of many cases of the more highly transmitted variant of COVID. Since many are not routinely wearing masks while out walking, coming within two feet of someone adds way too much tension to what should be a healthy activity.

Today was a different day. As I walked around my neighbourhood, everyone approaching the roads I walked on turned left, walking ahead of me in the same direction I was. I didn't have to do the avoidance tactic once and maintained my place on the sidewalk throughout my walk.

That was when a brainstorm hit me.

How much more pleasant walking would be if we had pedestrian traffic patterns similar to one way streets for our cars. If, for example, every other street running in parallel directions allowed pedestrians to head east and the in between streets had walkers heading west. We might even have times applied to this pattern with the direction changing at busy times (think of multi lane bridges that have middle lanes that change direction depending on time of day).

I understand there are drawbacks to this plan depending on where your house lies in a block. But weren't these the very issues that the earliest city planners had to deal with when planning streets, intersections, crosswalks, streetlights ... Society accepted all of it with only a few quibblers.

This plan might say quite a bit about me. I am an innovative thinker? I enjoy complex problems? I need to live out in the country away from other people?

I'll just put it down to COVID fatigue and stay indoors (at least until the snow melts).

Ok - not really.