Colin Dunlap: Quit Your Complaining About The Traffic
Pittsburgh has four major sports -- football, baseball, hockey and complaining.
And, the last of those is what we might do best; at the very least, we do it most often.
Sometimes --- check that, oftentimes --- the inhabitants of our fair city gripe just to hear themselves gripe. Many were at it again on Wednesday and it centered around, get this: Too many cars jammed into a confined space for a daytime baseball game in the middle of a pennant race on the North Shore.
My goodness.
That's all you got?
That's what ruins your day?
That's what you feel compelled to complain about?
That's what gets Yinzers all bent out of shape?
I'm not necessarily some glass-half-full guy all the time, but I can't even begin to fathom bellyaching about traffic in and around stadiums.
Know why? The two new stadiums -- and they still are relatively new -- have been a large part of the renaissance of our glorious city over the past few decades. They have forced us to realize unbelievable highs, propelled an enormous influx of dollars spent in our region and allowed a tremendous amount of civic pride.
Traffic comes with that; a general jam-up is the price of doing business. For that, you will never, once, hear me complain about having to sit in my car a little while longer as I navigate to or from one of those North Shore cathedrals.
Don't like it, don't go. It really is as simple as that for me. I've resigned myself to the fact that for big events --- and especially for the Pirates' afternoon day games --- there most likely will be bottlenecks.
Call me crazy, but I plan ahead. Try it sometime.
You see, in the lead-up to Wednesday's afternoon matinee between the Pirates and Cardinals (and then again after the game) there seemed to be an inordinate amount of traffic in and around PNC Park. Roadways were crunched, the parking lots were busting over and it appeared tempers bubbled
I have a prediction: This will all happen again on Saturday when Pitt plays a football game, the Pirates play a baseball game and Yinzer-nirvana (the RibFest) happens all in the same general area on the same day.
I also have a novel concept. Leave earlier if you want to avoid the traffic backlogs.
Or, how about this -- jump on some public transportation. Granted, public transportation leaves something to be desired in our city, but I wonder just how many people complaining about the traffic jams live fairly close to a 'T' station and could easily hop on a train and could have been dropped off -- for a nominal fee -- just about a block away from a PNC Park gate on Wednesday?
This one is all so easy to me, it truly is. For years and years and years, people complained about the antiquated nature of Three Rivers Stadium and, more to the point, about how the greater Downtown area didn't have much going on beyond the traditional work day.
Now we have two glorious stadiums.
We also have innumerable entertainment choices that have made the greater Downtown area vibrant, full of life and created a renaissance in that part of our wonderful city.
You know what happens when that happens? Sometimes there's traffic.
Live with it. Deal with it. And stop complaining.
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