Break out the sparkling cider and the commemorative gold-plated shovels, because Lubbock has officially achieved the impossible. After five years of staring at orange cones and questioning our life choices on FM 1585, TxDOT has finally opened a “historic” four-mile stretch of Loop 88. That’s right—four miles. At this blistering pace of roughly 0.8 miles per year, we can expect the full loop to be completed somewhere around the time the sun expands into a red giant and swallows the Earth.
City leaders gathered this morning to cut a ribbon on the section spanning from Avenue U to Chicago Avenue, effectively turning a two-lane cow path into a six-lane freeway. It’s a monumental achievement for anyone whose lifelong dream was to get from a Valero to a different Valero thirty seconds faster. Contractor Sacyr Construction is reportedly pulling the barriers today, so you can finally experience the thrill of driving 65 mph for approximately four minutes before reality sets back in.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Lubbock “improvement” without a built-in death trap. TxDOT is already warning drivers that the six-lane paradise abruptly narrows down to two lanes, then one lane, before dumping you into a frontage road merge that sounds like a level from Mario Kart. They’re “urging drivers to stay alert,” which is polite government-speak for “please try not to launch your Tahoe into the stratosphere when the road disappears.”
This is only the first of seven phases for just one segment of the loop. Next up is the I-27 interchange, which goes out for bid this summer. Given the current timeline, we suggest you start teaching your toddlers how to navigate construction detours now, so they’ll be prepared when the project wraps up during their mid-life crises.
After five years of dust and detours for a four-mile drag strip that ends in a bottleneck, do we get a trophy for our patience, or just more property tax hikes to pay for the next four miles?
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