Maybe you're one of the thousands who use East 1st Avenue/South Steele Street on any given day to either get to or around the Cherry Creek Shopping Center.
If you're one of them, then chances are you're one of the thousands of people dealing with some major traffic over the last several days because of construction in the area -- and while you wait -- you have plenty of time to wonder things like, "Why is this moving SO slow? What are construction crews even working on? Why can't they do this at night? Hey random driver, can you NOT block the intersection? I knew I should've left earlier. That person is walking faster than I'm driving. Why didn't I just use my bike? Never coming through here again."
All valid thoughts and questions (and chances are you'll probably go through there again).
Denver Public Works said they have crews finally working on repaving the roads to the north and east of the mall -- 18 years after any major paving was done in the area -- according to spokeswoman Heather Burke.
Half the issue, Burke said, is that crews must work during the day because of a noise ordinance that prevents them from working at night -- but she added that crews typically finish up around 3:30 p.m. each day, opening up lanes for rush hour.
A stroll around the area reveals that it is sometimes faster to walk through, and definitely quicker to bike through.
Some drivers end up blocking intersections as they try to beat a green light, making it difficult for other drivers coming off side streets to make it through the intersection themselves.
Other drivers make last-second decisions not to join the one-lane line of cars, instead choosing to go a longer, but seemingly faster route. It takes anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes just to get through the few blocks in the area.
Burke said the paving is scheduled to end by Friday.
