The other Washington that needs fixing

Hey Swami:

I saw this headline that said "Obama tells huge Dem crowd he'll fix Washington." Please tell me he meant Washington Street in Waukegan. I can't tell you how many hours of my life have been spent stuck at red lights on Washington when there is no other traffic on the road.

Road Rager

Dear Roadie:

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears Barack Obama was speaking about the Washington that is also known as the District of Columbia, not the lamented east-west thoroughfare in Waukegan.

The Swami feels your pain. As many observers have noted over the years but the city still has yet to grasp, the traffic lights on Washington Street are dysfunctional -- especially the ones in the downtown area, where they seemed designed to keep drivers from going more than one block at a time, day and night.

Perhaps worst of all is the evil little signal at St. Therese Boulevard, which will stop you dead in your tracks just for giggles.

But is there hope on the horizon? Word is, the Lake County Division of Transportation is spending $4 million on "interconnection of traffic signals" from Sheridan Road to Teske Boulevard. But take note: the project started this summer and is "currently waiting for delivery of traffic signal poles in September."

The Swami foresees that the project will be crippled by a sudden and critical nationwide shortage of traffic signal poles sometime in the next few weeks. We all know Washington could never be fixed that easily.