It was bound to happen someday, but I wish it hadn’t. On two occasions last month I had to wait for two cycles of a few traffic signals on Harrison Avenue before I could move through the intersection.
There’s no other prediction that can be made other than “In time, it will become irretrievably worse!” Those two traffic jams were small ones compared to an earlier one when North Pearl Street became impassable, due to an accident which blocked the bridge over the Skookumchuck River.
Harrison Avenue was jam packed with drivers headed for a connection to Reynolds Avenue as a way to get around the blockage. Drivers attempting to travel west on First Street were jammed together from where that street connects to Harrison Avenue all the way back to Edison Elementary School. Some oldtimers may have taken the Little Hanaford Road and come back on the Big Hanaford road, but that was a lot longer. (A nicer drive, though.)
That single incident pointed out the need for a backup way to cross the river in case of possible disaster.
A glance at a map of Centralia’s northeast section points out a possible route extending and widening Central Boulevard until it could cross the Skookumchuck and connect with either Eureka Avenue or Howard Avenue on the other side. Perhaps such a plan is or has already been considered? If so, it’s probably been discarded because it would be too expensive.
On the other hand, how expensive would it be to replace someone’s life because such an “escape route” wasn’t there when it was needed?
So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve frequently echoed the former Seattle columnist, Emmett Watson, in his cries for Lesser Seattle. I’ve admitted, also, that my original plan for moving to this area was to spend a few months using a job at KELA as a base to seek a radio job in a larger area.
Why? Well, I had sold my interest in a Wenatchee radio station that a partner and I had started from scratch and was going to try my hand selling real estate. I’d no sooner received my Realtor’s license and joined a firm when the largest employer in the county — Alcoa — closed half of its operations. There was an abundance of homes for sale alright, but I never found any buyers!
Hence the need to return to broadcasting someplace else. We agreed on Centralia as a base of operations for job hunting partly because my wife, Frances, was born here.
Once inside the city limits, it became our town and we never changed. While the marriage disintegrated and she passed away 10 years ago, neither of us ever considered moving somewhere else — somewhere where there were a lot more stores, a lot more people and a lot more traffic problems. The intended short use of the area as a base of operations has changed into more than a half century of contentment. I don’t know about you but I see it changing faster than ever and I don’t like it.
So, if you tire of me making my many tirades against the young leaders of Centralia and the rest of Lewis County who only see the bright lights and the plethora of entertainment and higher incomes that would come with growth for growth’s sake, please take a moment or two to remember how Centralia citizens banded together to put lights on Wheeler Field for the first time and how Chehalis citizens did the same to build The Penny Playground. And how many smaller communities maintain their local cemeteries?
•••
Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
