Commentary: Two roads out of Oakridge, you say? Really?

By BEN OLSON/For The Herald — My grandfather used to tell me to keep my valuables in the basement, as a burglar is very reluctant to go downstairs, lest he may get trapped and caught if someone came home.

It sounded good to me, whether it’s true or not. The last couple of places I’ve lived had no basements so I really couldn’t act on his advice, even if I thought it was prudent. He also gave me real estate advice as well, encouraging me to get lots while I’m young. That was quite a while ago.

Living back in the Midwest I could enter or leave town on any one of a dozen paved routes. Then I moved to an island in southwest Florida that had but one road connecting it with the mainland. It was a winding road through the mangroves, about three-quarters of a mile long.

Just like on the road I take to get to my house toward Hills Creek Dam, everyone would have their right turn signal on because the turn wasn’t quite sharp enough to have it automatically canceled after the turn.

When the full moons in late summer and fall exerted their influence on the tides, the Florida road would flood twice a day for three or four days. Sometimes up to two feet of saltwater would be running across the road for several hours. Driving your car through saltwater is not good for it at all, by the way.

This of course was very disruptive to the, pardon the expression, ebb and flow of daily life on our little island. Seven hundred people called it home and hundreds more visited every day to eat and drink at the restaurants and get to their boats at the marinas.

There has been talk of raising the road for years, but it just hasn’t happened yet. With the environmental impact studies and everything else involved, it may never happen. After watching how other Florida highway construction projects worked, it would probably take two years to do the actual work. A Midwest road construction company could have it done in three days.

My editor has suggested that I remember to have a local tie-in in my ramblings. In many ways, I feel that I am once again living in a place with only one way in and one way out. If you’ve ever taken the road on the north side of the Lookout Point Reservoir to Lowell, you know that there are other options, but they are not very good or practical.

Highway 58 is, most of the time, just fine for getting to the bright lights and big city of Eugene. However, I’ve had to wait for hours as a wreck out on the highway has brought everything to a halt.

I was not here for the snowpocalypse a few years ago, but I understand that the road was closed for more than a week.

You say that there are two roads out of Oakridge. How many people go to Crescent Lake to do their shopping or attend a concert or sporting event?

I can’t imagine a new paved road connecting Oakridge and Eugene any time soon. What I would encourage everyone to do in the meantime is to slow down a little, leave a little more space between you and the car in front of you and not be in such a big hurry getting down the only road that connects us with the rest of the world.

Aggressive and rude driving may save you a few minutes, but is it worth it?

Oakridge musician Ben Olson, entertainment editor and columnist for The Herald, can be reached by email at [email protected]