Is it just my imagination, or is traffic starting to get heavier around here?
I was on Washington Avenue in Kingston about 9 a.m. today -- coming from the traffic circle (pardon me, "roundabout") toward Hurley Avenue -- and the backup from the traffic light at Hurley went all the way back to the bridge over the Esopus Creek. That's a line of about 30 cars, I'd guess.
An old joke in Kingston was that "rush hour" was defined as three cars waiting at a red light. Those days most certainly are gone -- though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given the local population influx from the New York City area over the past decade or so. We simply have more people living here, which means more cars, which means heavier traffic. It's a trend that's not likely to reverse.
On the bright side, I'm happy to report that Wal-Mart in the town of Ulster (where I was coming from) is still relatively empty between 8 and 9 a.m. -- plenty of parking near the entrances, aisles not crowded, no line at the checkout. For that, I guess I'm willing to wait in a bit of traffic.