Snow Clean Up Difficult in Sioux Falls

I drive the same route to work every day. It usually involves a trip down 57th street. Since they've widened the road, (thank you) they've added what I think is a colossal waste of time and money. The pretty little grass lined, tree trimmed medians with light poles in the middle.

Wintertime. It's a pain. For a LOT of people.

I stopped by home to let the dog out over the noon hour. It's a pretty nice day. Sunny and cold, but a pretty nice day. As I was coming back to work I noticed a couple maintainers working on snow cleanup along 57th street. Many times the city crews will bring out the snow crews to 'shape things up' and keep the snow from piling up along the shoulders of the road and in the median to keep drifting in check.

So, I'm watching this guy running a maintainer, trying to remove snow from one of Sioux Falls fancy medians that they've put in along 57th street. You know the ones I'm talking about. The mediums where they put sod down, installed sprinkler systems, planted trees, fake rocks to cover up the electric boxes and light poles.

Now, I'm not criticizing the way it looks. But looking fancy isn't very practical when it comes to cleaning up snow. As I was driving by I noticed the guy hit the light pole and down she came. I can only imagine how the guy felt. Traffic was driving by and 'timber, there she goes.'

These fancy mediums look nice. They really do, but when you see city workers having to mow the median every week, then follow behind with a trimmer and then see workers have to put a new tree every couple years cause they die off it gets you wondering. The light pole going down pushed me over the line.

Being 'pretty' isn't always practical.

Then there's the turnaround at 69th and Southeastern that someone decided needed to look like the Peace Gardens on the North Dakota Canadian Border.  In the 'turn about, turn around at 69the and Southeastern someone thought it would be a good idea to plant a bunch of decorative grass up in the middle of it. Nice idea 7 months out of the year. Not so good this time of year. It's nothing but a snow catch that has to be worked around. Not to mention it sure would be nice to see traffic when your going through the turn.

I'm all for pretty. I'm all for beautiful. Now, if we could just work in a little 'user friendly' and pay attention to being practical we'd be a little better off.

There would for sure be a happier maintainer driver today.