By james art 
Snowboarding in Tallahassee with a skateboard deck
I used one of my old skateboard decks and rode around my front yard. I had a blast! It is one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had in my life and I am so grateful that we all get to enjoy the magic of snow.
Provided by Razi
Well, we witness the kind of weather that mother nature brings our way from time to time, freezing temperatures, rain, snow and more rain.
We all took pictures of the winter wonderland that graced Florida’s capital, backyards, front yards, sidewalks and streets.
Some of us still with our snow gear packed away from our days growing up in New England or other snowy parts of the country and the world rummaged through the attic to retrieve our sleds, snow skis and snowboards, so the youngest members of our family and Friends can embark on their own snow days to play.
I well remember the fun times growing up when the snow finally arrived. That is, until it was our turn to help shovel snow from the path and driveway.
Snow is hard when you’re 10. Even worse when it was our turn to take the car without heated seats out of the unheated garage, up the driveway at 4:30 in the mornings below and onto the street before the Snowplow left a solid 6x6x6 inch curl of ice at the driveway entrance.
A thick frozen barrier the car couldn’t even get over with an ice hammer and whatever heavy tool I could find to chip and cut through the man made obstacle. Then, ready for school or work, having to use a butane cigarette lighter to heat the key to break into the frozen door.
Finally, inside the freezing car (which only warms up around the time we get to our destination), putting and keeping the transmission in low gear, carefully coaxing two tons of snow, metal transport down a steep hill that was begging to be started from the outside Slide the control before you reach the stop sign at the bottom. Been there, done that. No thanks. I’d rather fall apart in Winters Tallahassee.
This little cold snap is most likely the first of the extra time to come. So be wise, confirm the correct percentage of antifreeze in the car’s cooling system. I recommend new windshield wipers every winter and summer. Proper tire inflation as well as recommended engine and transmission fluids are a must.
If we have freezing temperatures after rain, you will literally be skating on ice. Black ice! which is not black. You look through the clear sheet of ice, seeing the black asphalt road, tricking you into believing you’re on dry pavement, when you’re actually driving on a thin sheet of extremely slippery ice.
Then there’s driving on concrete surfaces enjoying the sun in understated temperatures. Concrete never dries. Freezing temperatures condense moisture from the interior of the concrete bridge (overpass) onto the concrete surface, where it becomes a dangerous ice sheet for navigation.
Warning signs across the state and in South Georgia read: Bridges of ice before the road. Now you know how and why. Take nothing for granted while driving in the winter.
Noise cancellation
C. Marlene asks who to contact to have a noise reduction wall for her Westover neighborhood.
A. The US DOT/FHWA, as well as the entire government, elected and appointed officials and department directors, monitor the street scene for anything that may affect their area of responsibility for public safety. As such Marlene, those within the FHWA Florida Division will see your letter today.
We ask that FHWA staff investigate your valid request for protection from traffic noise that interferes with what is understood to negatively affect the quality of life. Dropping traffic noise can take many possible solutions, so we’ll let the FHWA do its due diligence and come up with the best barrier to adequately buffer interstate traffic noise for Westover.
If we do not hear from the FHWA within a reasonable time, say two or three weeks, you may want to write directly to:
Jamie Christian, Division Administrator Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration3500 Financial Plaza, Suite 400tallahassee, FL 32312
Crosslights out of sync on Capital Circle NE
C. Fred S. Copies a street scene A very detailed letter he wrote to City Manager Reese God, outlining his discovery of walks at the recently reconfigured intersection of Capital Circle NE and Raymond Diehl Road out of sync with traffic signals assigning right-of-way to vehicles.
Fred included several pictures that were helpful in understanding the hazard. Of course, such a Snafu puts pedestrians, in Fred’s case and cyclists, in direct conflict with vehicles moving through the intersection on a green light. Street Scene wrote a supportive letter to Goad, copying all of those Fred included in his original letter, asking for a speedy resolution given the obvious danger to people crossing the street.
A. Street Scene gives a heartfelt thank you to Fred and joins him in thanking Manager God and his team for quickly resolving a terrible situation.
Dangerous drivers in general
Q. Lori has experienced some unusual and certainly dangerous drivers who do things that are hard for Lori to understand. In one instance, while Laurie was waiting for a green light in the left lane to turn, a driver in the lane across her right turned left at her red light.
Then sometime later at another intersection waiting for a green arrow for a left turn three cars in the adjacent lane ran the red light pulled in front of Laurie, narrowly missing an oncoming car.
Laurie sees two possibilities for such recklessness. Either all traffic laws were repealed as of January 2025, or the lack of traffic enforcement has finally manifested itself in the total disregard for traffic laws. Be careful and drive defensively.
A. It gives me no comfort to say; If we live long enough, we will see some very strange driver behavior. Your advice to drive defensively is the only way to survive long enough to retire one day.
Take care at Wawa
C. Recent Zing! asks why there are no turn lanes to access these new Wawa stores? They seem to generate a lot of traffic.
A. The goal of traffic engineers is always public safety, or at least it should be. Critical thinking goes to adding lanes to existing roads, especially turning lanes, which typically involve shifting sidewalks, right-of-way/private property, underground utilities such as drainage, telecommunications, and in some cases electrical.
There is a metric known as level of service (LOS) to assess how well traffic flows on a road with the result that gives the desired LOS after new development is built. I’m not sure this valuable tool has been used in the case of our new Wawa locations.
By critical thinking do I mean do we withhold permits until the developer agrees to factor into their development the cost of moving utilities and adding turn lanes to access the finished property or people want a new gas station/breakfast bar/ noon noon enough bad bad enough Not to delay the project or the chance that the developers will be pulled out of town.
In the meantime, if or until the turn lanes are built, let’s adjust our driving to accommodate the expected traffic jams and enjoy our new Wawa stops.
Phillip Stewart is a retired Florida State Trooper, traffic project engineer and forensics expert. Write to [email protected].