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Some of you might have been as stunned as I was in the past 10 days at the sight of gasoline station signs informing us that premium grade is now more than $2 a gallon. Since I burn premium in my car, it hit especially close to home.
So I asked Matt Waite, a colleague of mine who is a near-genius with numbers, to run some for me. And the results were interesting, so I thought I'd share because I don't believe in keeping interesting stuff to myself.
Adjusted for inflation, the gallon of gasoline that costs $2.05 today would have cost 27 cents in 1950. Ironically, the average nationwide price for a gallon of regular gasoline in 1950 was 27 cents.
So you might say that the price of gas hasn't even kept up with inflation, since the $2.05 price is for today's premium and the 27 cents is for 1950's regular. In inflation-adjusted terms, regular gas today costs less than it did in 1950.
I tried to remember that last week when it cost me $32.84 to fill up my tank. It helped, but not much.
Okay, come on, people. We're getting tired of this right-turn-on-red hassle.
Some of you don't seem to realize that turning right on a red light, where such a move is legal, is still a matter of driver preference. There is nothing about the law allowing a right turn on red that commands everyone to do it, even in the absence of oncoming traffic.
If a driver doesn't want to turn right on red, doesn't feel secure turning right on red, that is his or her decision. And if you feel "stuck" behind someone who has made the choice not to turn, well, too bad for you.
Get over it.
And then there are those of you who can't seem to lay off the horn even in the face of "No Turn on Red" signs. What do you want the driver in front of you to do: break the law? Are you nuts?
The preponderance of complaints I receive about this involves two intersections: southbound Fourth Street at Gandy Boulevard and northbound 28th Street at Roosevelt Boulevard. These intersections have lighted signs that go on periodically, showing a right turn signal encased in a circle with a diagonal line drawn through it, the universal language for, "Don't do this."
And yet people sit behind drivers who are only obeying the signals and lay on their horns.
Well, lay off.
If you keep it up, we'll send you to bed without milk and cookies.
Once again, the roadies have repaired the gaping hole at the entrance to the right-turn lane leading to the new ramp from 118th Avenue N to Interstate 275.
The patch appears to have been done a little better this time: real asphalt instead of some loose blacktop thrown into the maw and tamped a bit.
With the rainy season just around the calendar, you can help preserve the patch. Try not to drive over it, especially during and after rain. That's when a lot of pavement damage gets done.
Charles Bishop of Clearwater wants to know what's up with the sidewalks along U.S. 19 in the Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard area. Some are built, others aren't. Bishop is under the impression the project was supposed to have been completed last August.
"Users of the sidewalk must detour onto Highway 19 to get around these closed areas," Bishop wrote. "As a matter of logic one would think the contractor would have completed the sidewalk in one direction and waited for the two sections of railing to be installed on the other side, thus completing the project in one direction."
Unfortunately, things don't always happen according to logic.
The state roadies, who are the contractors on this job, tell us the sidewalks in question have been held up because easement agreements are needed from Costco and Lowe's, both tenants of the newly built Clearwater Mall. With any luck at all, those agreements will have been signed by the time you read this.
As for the handrails, that is Segment Two of the project. All of the work will be done by the end of this month, the roadies say. The August 2003 date on the original flier was the start date, not the completion date.
Moreover, writes Kris Carson, spokeswoman for the state roadies, "We have checked and there are "Sidewalk Closed' signs in the areas that are not fully completed, so no one should be using them."
So don't walk out onto U.S. 19. That's courting suicide. Just stay off the sidewalks until they're done.
Another dastardly Eyeball Jiggler of the Week bites the dust.
The roadies got out very early last week in search of the gouge we wrote about on Fourth Street N just as you enter the intersection with Central Avenue.
It was a dandy. The asphalt washed out all the way down to the old brick street. But it's gone now. The roadies had their intrepid work crews fill it in.
As I was looking at pictures of the former EJW, I got wistful once again for brick streets. If the city of St. Petersburg is really serious about traffic calming, those in charge would rip up all the asphalt where it covers perfectly good brick streets and let those old avenues breathe again.
There's nothing that will slow traffic down like a well-used brick street.
- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com by fax at 727 893-8675 or by snail mail at 490 First Ave., S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.