Home > View from the Newsroom > Archives > 2008 > August > 18 > Entry
Three cheers for the parkway
Gary Harmon, my longtime colleague, the guy you love to hate or hate to love, the newsroom contrarian, and one of the best writers I’ve ever worked with, got it wrong about the new Riverside Parkway.
As those of you who read him know, he’s not a fan.But in one humble editor’s opinion, it’s the best thing the city’s done since it put all the curves in Main Street way back in the 1960s.
For nearly three decades, I’ve labored daily on the wrong side of the tracks. Daily Sentinel workers know how well the coal industry is in Delta County without reading any news accounts. We know by the number of coal trains that we get stuck behind trying to get to and from work. The coal industry is doing just fine, thank you.
But no longer will we have to worry about the trains. The Parkway takes us conveniently over the longest coal trains in the world.
I timed it this weekend, and it takes exactly two minutes — two minutes consumed by a very pleasant drive — longer to get from my house to The Daily Sentinel via the parkway than my old route. And that’s if there’s no train. Add as much as 20 minutes if there’s a long coal train.
I can’t wait for the day when I pull into the parking lot from the south, having arrived via the parkway, only to see my friend Gary, waiting on the other side while the train passes. Maybe I can get him to write a column about that.
Comments
By Lynn
August 18, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this
He can always turn around and head towards Delta!
By Sarah
August 20, 2008 5:19 PM | Link to this
I am so loving that video.
By Dave
August 22, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this
Denny, you are absolutely right. That parkway is the best thing to ever happen to people who live and work south of the tracks. It’s even better than the old Noland Avenue-Fifth Street escape hatch. Now there’s a northbound acceleration lane on Fifth, so you don’t have to fight for your life turning into fast traffic coming down from Orchard Mesa. The parkway might have been spendy, but you get what you pay for. Harmon, I better not ever catch you on MY parkway! Har!
By Willie
August 23, 2008 12:34 AM | Link to this
Gary Harmon’s writing is wrong about a lot of things; finally his boss calls him on ONE! Big deal…