Under Construction

As the old joke goes, there are only two seasons in North Dakota: winter and road construction. If there was a year where that is more true, it would be 2022.

Our area saw snowstorms in late April, and as soon as the white crap melted work was underway on numerous construction projects.

This construction season our pages have been filled with updates on the various projects underway.

We're "under construction," folks, "a work in progress."

Three major highway projects are underway, according to the NDDOT:

• U.S. Hwy. 52 passing lanes, milling and asphalt from Fessenden to Carrington

• U.S. Hwy. 281 dull-depth reclamation, hot mix asphalt, turn lanes, and widening from Sheynne to New Rockford

• ND Hwy. 30 structure replacement near Sykeston

Motorists face long delays, loose gravel and lane closures. We must navigate a maze of cones, read a slough of signs, stop for flaggers and follow pilot cars.

I made the mistake of taking Hwy. 281 to Sheyenne for Sharon Whitmer's benefit on Thursday, Aug. 11.

I waited for not one, but two pilot cars along that 10-mile stretch. My 10-minute trip turned into 40, and I learned my lesson, the hard way. On the way home, I took an alternate route. It was still dusty and gravel-filled, but albeit much shorter.

And if getting around the heavy equipment and torn up roads isn't hard enough, we also have to drive defensively to avoid crashes with motorists that aren't paying attention. I heard a story from a reader about her experience on Hwy. 52 east of Sykeston recently. She was waiting for a pilot car behind a semi, and the lady in the vehicle behind her nearly touched her bumper when she stopped. Then, when the pilot car came, this reader made sure to give herself a little room between her vehicle and the semi in front of her. However, the driver behind her took the extra space as an invitation to not only pass her but also the semi, while in line behind the pilot car!

In New Rockford, the street improvement project has begun, more than 30 days behind schedule. The workers are in a hurry and working on more than one street at once, so you never know where you might encounter a literal road block and have to take a detour.

The City of New Rockford has started posting daily updates on their Facebook page to keep residents informed. That's a good move, it just means we have to either take the time to read the latest before we venture out, or give ourselves extra time just in case.

Because I deal best with stress by using a little humor, I bring you three construction fails that I couldn't help but not only laugh at, but also see how it relates to my own life.

I found these after doing a quick Google search for "construction fails" and "construction humor" this past week. To see the full blog post, with all 16 construction fails, go to https://littlethings.com/lifestyle/road-construction-fail/1332846-13.

And speaking of failure, I know that life and work is all about making mistakes. I've made major spelling errors in print, I have projects every week that take longer to finish than I'd hope, and I deal with people that want to put off an uncomfortable task or pass it off to someone else to avoid making mistakes.

Through all this, I'm reminded often that mistakes are not fun. But I've found that the best way to deal with them is to admit the mistake, sincerely apologize and do whatever I can to avoid repeating the mistake. That last thing is not so easy to do in the newspaper business. We read, set and publish thousands of words every week, and even though we have no fewer than three people read every article and page before each edition is sent to press, we still miss things. I guess you could say we're "under construction" too, very much a "work in progress."