Posted by
Purplegimp on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:00:00 AM
The gimp wonders why things are done the way they are done in the 'places where plans are made'.Road 90 goes from Metula in the north to Eilat in the south. It is Kiryat Shmonah's main street, and pretty much has to be used to go anywhere from here. I've been using that road for the last 18 years and can not remember a time when it wasn't under construction. Back in the good old days when I was driving this road four days a week, it was very narrow and had some very winding twisting hilly stretches that were fun on a motorcycle but frustrating when driving a car behind a huge truck. Over the last ten years of the last century the national road works company worked on widening and improving selected sections of the road, even though it felt like their sole purpose was to drive Northern motorists insane. Recently it was decided to turn Road 90 into a highway with two lanes in each direction. The obvious way to do this was to start at both ends and work towards the middle. That's all fine and well, except that now we have two sections of road with a speed limit of 100kph that feed into a much longer part with a limit of 60kph where trucks and heavy equipment cross the road. There are barriers instead of shoulders which means there is absolutely no place to pull over to allow emegency vehicles to pass. Road 90 must be used if there is any hope of getting to the regional hospital in less than 3 hours. That hospital is in Safed which has two roads that lead off Road 90. One is a newly built road that leads to the hospital and southern part of Safed and cuts the trip to half an hour from one hour. The old road to Safed is a tribute to drunken engineering. I am convinced that someone got a camel drunk and laid out that road by following the drunk camel to the bottom of the mountain Safad sits upon. For more years than I care to think about that drunken camel road was the only way to get to Safed and today it is still the best way to get to the nothern neighborhoods. As you may have gathered it is very narrow, winding and steep.
Yesterday I had reason to go to Safed, the nothern part; the drive up there was fine. Only one tailgater got the 'treatment' from me. Rather than staying at 70kph, I slowed down to the posted limit of 60, until the idiot passed me on a solid line. The drive home, on the other hand, was another story entirely. I usually just put the car in 2nd gear and let it drift slowly down the twisty parts. When I got to the twistiest part, I was greated by a bull standing on the road side of a fence between the road and a field. At least it just stood there and didn't chalenge my right to be on the road. Again, this road doesn't have a shoulder wide enough to pull over. Not long after I got over my surprise at seening the bull, a Border Police pick up truck appeared behind me and sat on my rear bumper until he could pass me. He was followed not long after that by a regular cop car that was in a great hurry. After he went flying by me, I was pleased that no other cars came up behind me. I really do like going slowly down that road. Everything was just fine until I got to the construction zone, where I held steady on 70 kp/h and collected a cavalcade of tailgaters. I was reminded of my previous drive home from Safed, when a traffic cop came up behind me and demanded by way of his loudspeaker that I get out of his way. Yeah, right, immediately, Mr. Police Man. Um, there's no place to pull over and I'm already going 10 over the limit and he didn't have his flashy lights on, which is against police proceedure here. In the end I slowed way down and he passed me in a maneuver that would have been illegal for anyone else. But cops think they can do what they want. Nine kilometers out of town the road widens again and they all blasted past me, some making rude gestures. The absolute worst part of the trip was that it was 86 degrees out side and my a/c wasn't working. By the time I got home I was feeling a little woozy and collapsed on the bed with a liter bottle of water. As I lay there sipping the water, I wondered what would happen if the hizzbullies decided to play with us. I'm afraid that it will be all over before the IDF can get enough men, supplies and equipment up here. Yes, that road does have to be widened, I just hope someone has a plan in case of emergency. I also hope and pray that I won't have to be taken to hospital by ambulance before they finish the new improved middle part of the road. I am seriously considering using the Northern Road the next time I go to Safad, even though it is inches from the border with Lebanon and the hizzbullies. Literally inches.