Second-class Citizens

You may have heard - the Greenbelt east of Boise is temporarily closed.

From the Local Daily (pay particular attention to the last sentence):

Greenbelt section closed due to leak

The Greenbelt between Idaho State Parks headquarters on Warm Springs Avenue and the Idaho 21 bridge is closed due to an irrigation canal leak.

Boise Project Board of Control Monday discovered a leak in the Penn Canal, which runs along the Greenbelt in the area. Crews will need at least three or four days to remove a section of the Greenbelt and repair the leak.

Greenbelt users have no way to detour around the repair zone.

Now, imagine if it were Warm Springs that was closed due to infrastructure problems, and they said there was no way to detour around the repair zone for a few days.

That ain't gonna happen. They'd have flaggers and pilot cars and oddball work hours... whatever it takes.

Now, granted, a large percentage of Greenbelt users are "recreational," at least in that stretch. But the same could likely be said for the roads in that direction.

(By the way, using Warm Springs will provide a good way to detour around the repair zone. Believe it or not, some of us old-timers used to ride out Warm Springs back when the Greenbelt was a railroad line. Perhaps the highway people, and/or the news reporters, aren't aware that bicycles can legally and safely use the roadway.)