Sluggish economy?

The headlines in The Chronicle tell us that the economy is slow, retail sales are way down, large stores are going out of business, and consumers just aren't spending money like they used to.

Well, if all of the above is true, then I would like to know why there are so many cars on the roads around here, and all of those roads are heading towards the shopping malls that have popped up on the landscape as quickly as bluebonnets.

What used to be a ten-minute ride to take care of errands in town has become a forty-minute nightmare. Should we try Bay Area Blvd? Or maybe NASA Road One would be better? How about El Dorado? The final answer--- it doesn't matter which road you take... they're all going to be backed up with traffic heading towards one of the shopping centers, and you can bet that the two lanes on each of those roads are blocked off to just one lane because road-work is going on. And on, and on... since around April or May. (Just how long does it take to fix some un-even pavement or replace drainage pipes?)

The Powers That Be have built a new overpass on NASA Road One, just past the Space Center. That downtown-looking overpass (which is a small-town eye-sore) was supposed to alleviate some of the traffic, which is does, but if you take that overpass you can't get off at Highway 3 and the overpass takes you to the feeder-road of the Gulf Freeway. Well, la dee da to that.... the feeder-road of the Gulf Freeway has been backed up for the past two years because of all the new mega-stores and mega-movie theatres that have been built over there.

I told my husband today that road-rage will be a daily happening in this town by the end of the year, if not sooner. We don't have that aggressive kind of driving here. Drivers let you into a lane if you need to make a turn; no one (no one, not ever, in all the years we've been here) honks their horn as soon as a red light changes to green; people on the road are generally courteous and kind.

But wait. Just wait. The holiday shoppers are going to be out in force the week after Thanksgiving. All of those people who don't start thinking about Christmas till after the turkey has been carved, served, and picked-over for the dog will be out on the roads, heading towards the mall or the 726 shopping centers that have bloomed in and around this once-quiet area. And all of our two-lane roads will have bumper-to-bumper traffic, and all the drivers who take the new overpass on NASA Road One and find out they can't exit on Highway 3 will be steaming mad. (Just who designed that overpass anyway?!)

I am so glad my Christmas shopping is done, I swear. But I shouldn't be saying that out loud. With all the frustrated drivers around this town, I don't think they'd much appreciate my efforts.