Carpenter Road is like no man’s land

No man’s land does not exist in combat. A one-mile section of Carpenter Road between the fairgrounds and Roo-Lan nursing home is another. The city of Lacey and Thurston County debate who is responsible for it. Therefore neither does anything to it.

The roadway is crumbling and no one even sweeps it. When storm debris lands on the road vehicle traffic brushes it onto the bike lanes, where it sometimes reaches a depth of 3 inches plus branches.

I ride my recumbent tricycle on a regular basis near the fairgrounds to Providence St. Peter Hospital to do volunteer work. It becomes very difficult to travel this section of the bike lane. Traffic is too heavy to use the roadway.

Therefore I purchased a commercial back pack leaf blower and cleared the lanes myself. The debris was so heavy it took me 6 1/2 hours to complete the task. I will be 80 years old this year and will only be able to do this for a few more years.

Can someone who speaks cityese and countyese interpret and negotiate with these to entities to come up with a suitable compromise so I can once again retire? Thank you.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 8:57 AM with the headline "Carpenter Road is like no man’s land."