If, like me, you’ve lived near the Tucker-Gaston intersection by Arboretum Village for some time, you understand the perils of crossing from one side of Gaston to the other. Cars come racing down Gaston from the West and dart around the corner at Garland/Grand from the East. And, to my knowledge, there’s never been a traffic light on Gaston at Tucker Street—which gets caught in the middle of the racing cars—to help reduce the speed of the heavy metal hurtling toward you.
Until now. There was first talk of the city installing a light about a year ago, and now they finally got it up and running. When I drove home yesterday and prepared to make a right turn on Tucker Street, I saw something glorious to behold. Big red lights, indicating that I should slow down. My usual reaction to a red traffic light is quite the opposite, but not this time. I can finally walk across the street to get groceries or grab a beer without feeling like my only option for survival is to outrun the oncoming cars. And I can finally ride my bike safely across Gaston to join the trail that leads to White Rock without visions of my foot slipping off the pedal and me toppling over into the street, ready to become roadkill.
It’s true that the Garland-Grand-Gaston intersection a few yards down—which has issues of its own—may be overhauled at some point, and that might affect the Tucker light. But for now, this Lakewood resident is breathing a sigh of relief. I’ll be celebrating later after I walk across Gaston to grab that beer.
