Yesterday Sister Jackie was Miss Daisy's replacement driver, whilst Miss Daisy's regular driver got to sit behind the driver, thus better able to enjoy the passing scenery as we drove out of the Phoenix metro area to the distant suburb of Maricopa, population 48,007.
When I am in Arizona I am regularly impressed with the differences between this American location and what I see when I am in some other American locations, such as some Texas towns.
Texas towns like Fort Worth, Texas.
A railroad passes through Maricopa. This is where the Amtrak station is located which serves all of the Phoenix area to the north. Other trains also pass through Maricopa. When a train comes through town this has long created a traffic backup, waiting for the train to pass.
On my last visit to Arizona, when we visited Maricopa, I asked what that was being constructed by the Amtrak station. I was told it was a new highway overpass, passing over the train tracks and a road or two.
And now a few months later this bridge project, being built over dry land, appears to be near completion.
Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, population over 800,000, the town has been struggling for over four years to build three simple little bridges over dry land, hoping to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.
How can such a similar project be realized so efficiently in one town in America, and so ineptly in another town in America?
Perhaps someone other than the dopey unqualified son of a local congresswoman is in charge of this Maricopa bridge building project.
Seeing this new Maricopa railroad track overpass in the making brought to mind another mystery regarding how one location in America can be so different from another.
Regularly at various locations in DFW, such as Highway 377, a train can bring all traffic to a halt, creating massive traffic jams. This has been going on for years, with the locals, near as I can tell, seeming to think there is no solution to such a problem.
And another item noted.
Being driven around the Valley of the Sun with Sister Jackie being Miss Daisy's driver I was freshly impressed with what I was seeing when I saw new development. Sister Jackie confirmed that when new development develops it is mandated that parks, landscaping and sidewalks be installed along with the new homes and apartment complexes under construction.
Every month when I return to DFW I am appalled at the mess of zero urban planning I see in north Fort Worth, where thousands of new homes have been stuck on the ground, with little if any landscaping, parks, sidewalks. The main roads are the same roads I drove on in this area when I first moved to Texas, with little upgrading.
It is like an entire area of America is greatly lacking in basic common sense, whilst another area of America seems to have a surplus of common sense.
So perplexing...
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