WHY PITTSBURG IS SO GREAT -- Reason No. 4739

THE RAILROADS ARE LAID OUT SO WELL

Have you stopped to realize how lucky we are with all the neat, interesting, and eye-pleasing railroad overpasses and underpasses that ease city traffic flows here?

I believe that many other towns -- of crucial industrial, agricultural, or geographic importance -- such that they need a conspicuous railroad presence, too -- have single or more tracks running across the major streets, even in several or more places.

And, if they have to handle a lot of mile-long freight trains as a result -- look out.  Those marvelous machines often have to creep forward a distance, stop for a lengthy period, then back up again -- as they do whatever road-blocking thing they are doing  -- such that drivers regularly suffer agonizingly boring, costly, and inconvenient delays.  Sometimes those trains are even long enough to block all the cross-streets at the same time.  (Yikes! No options)

And so, what should be a five minute cross-town trip becomes an unavoidable 30 minute hassle -- though you do get the opportunity to study the details of freight car design and graffiti.

I suspect there are more than a few towns that endure many such disruptions during a given day, with many such days per week.  Just a guess.

For example, Terre Haute (a charming little City near the western border of Indiana) is trapped by such a plight -- and my heart goes out to them -- though, I suppose one can get used to most anything. But, when I visit there, it's glaringly obvious that they could use Pittsburg's strategy -- if only there were money to retrofit (and, I suspect, the political resolve).

I hope I get a chance to investigate (or that someone will tell me) -- how this very life-enhancing civil engineering feature came to be -- what foresight.  What could have been a terrible inconvenience has been turned into an entertainingly dynamic aspect of life here.  Perhaps there are natural advantages of topography -- but whatever the circumstances, lucky us.


David Nelson

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