It’s time for officials to take note of problems

Got time on your hands? Drive toward Highway 67-167 west of Pine Street on Highway 321. Go, say, about 7:15 a.m. Then come east on the same road about 5:15 to 6 p.m. Any weekday.

Wanna see a line of cars backed up more than half-a-mile? That’s the fate that awaits you on that so-called Cabot bypass or back road.

Cabot has more traffic problem areas than many towns two and three times bigger. Why? The town has been in bedroom-community-growth-mode for two decades or more so where is the long-range planning for the guaranteed increased traffic?

Cabot, like many communities, has an "image" problem. A majority of community leaders, from the mayor on down, imagine that problems will go away if you just don’t talk about them.

Many communities in this state and the nation have long-range plans. Cabot’s idea of long-range planning is thinking about doing something next Thursday.

Cabot’s two main entrance and exit thoroughfares to 67-167 – Highway 321 and West Main – are single-lane roads. The roads simply cannot handle the traffic load now; the problem is only going to get worse.

So, again, why?

Small-town thinking.

It’s Cabot’s biggest failing. There are few giraffes out there, people willing to stick their necks out to pinpoint problems and offer ideas to fix them.

This is a go-along-to-get-along community.

That’s why the town elected officials let developers do just about whatever they want to do. That’s why we have sidewalks that dead-end at a ditch and pick up on the other side. That’s why we have subdivisions that have dangerous entrances into main thoroughfares.
That’s why we allow the school district to open up new driveways at schools (Southside Elementary this year) for parents dropping off kids without constructing a turn lane, further complicating the lives of morning commuters.

That’s why the drainage situation in Cabot guarantees flooding when there’s a storm.

Cabot is a great community but think how much better it could be if people – especially elected officials – would just believe that “just because you’re small doesn’t mean you have to think small.”