28 stops!

For years I've driven across town to get to work.  The commute could be much better but it could also be much worse.  Lately though, our commute to work has gotten mean.  The growth in Roseville and surrounding cities is crazy.  According to a study published not too long ago, Roseville is among the top ten fastest growing cities IN THE COUNTRY!  What?  No wonder everywhere you look is dump trucks, bulldozers, roadwork, new buildings in various phases of completion and, of course, PEOPLE.  Where are they all coming from?  Like dirty bath water, the bay area is draining north.  That's part of it.  But that's not it.  Where are all the other humanoids coming from?  It's not just reproduction either, because I know there can't be thousands of new Roseville babies every year, can there?  I'm from the bay area originally and I'm not trying to bag on it, but I don't really want my little railroad town I fell in love with to get like it.

When my family moved to Roseville in the mid 70s, the population was under 10,000.  Now, 30 years later, the population is over 100,000.  That's some serious growth, and I've watched it happen.  Growth is inevitable, sure.  I do like how everything I need and everything I don't need is within the city limits.  We have hundreds of restaurants to choose from, which is great too.  No matter what, I will always love Roseville.  I grew up here and have formed a bond.  Maybe that sounds lame, I don't know.  But, where are all these people coming from?

So, to get this entry back on track, I'd like to share a little experiment we did yesterday.  Allison and I often carpool to work and on our way home yesterday, we counted the number of traffic signals and stop signs we had to pass to get home.  Actually she counted as I lost track because I was distracted by all the stupid drivers that drive as though it was there first time behind the wheel.  She counted, and I would ask what number we were on, practically every signal.  You already know the answer because it's the title of this entry.  28 stops.  Are you kidding me?  We each took a guess and just like our personalities, her guess was an optimistic 25 and mine, a pessimistic 38.  We noticed that 28 is about to be 29, because a new signal is going up a few miles from our house.  Before too long, we'll hit 30. 

We knew what we were getting into when we bought a house so far from work.  We really wanted to the house we picked out and were willing to take on the commute to get it.  Everybody warned us too. 

"Why do you want to move so far away from work?" 

"I wouldn't want to have that drive."

We love our house and are bummed that the drive to work has to be such a pain in the ass.  It may become too much some day, and we'll be forced to live closer to work.  But where does it end?  I like Folsom and would have no problem relocating eventually, to reduce our drive.  But is distance to work the only consideration?  Folsom is growing like crazy too.  Traffic is crazy and there are PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!  The only choices seem to be to deal with it or move away, far away.  When is this part of California going to be unbearable?  Hell, when is California in general going to be unbearable.  It would be easy to dismiss it as growth and convince ourselves to just deal with it.  That's fine for now, and maybe that is the answer for our lifetimes,but maybe it's not. 

Comments

[matt]

Brother you said it! I too moved here when I was in the 6th grade and it was a small town. Douglas was a 2-lane road all the way to the lake and there was no Granite Bay city either. This town has grown almost too fast for the infastructure. I'm no expert, but I am a homeowner and our freaking sky high property taxes should cover upgrades in traffic lanes, but I have a feeling it's being squandered elsewhere. I can't stand all the Bay Area pukes moving up here and driving home prices through the roof. Thankfully, I live 5 minutes from work and can walk or ride it I choose, but years ago I too had to commute from Roseville to Rancho Cordova and it was awful then too. I can't imagine how bad the drive is today. Good luck brother and we'll just have to remember how great it was to grow up when the town was still young.