Anne Stevens: City of Merced should not turn East 21st into a nightmare again

When they closed off G Street to create the underpass, the end result was tremendous. Traffic now flows along G Street regardless of the train schedules.

However, East 21st Street became a living hell during construction. Those who would normally use G detoured via Sante Fe or McKee and down our once lovely residential street. There were days when you could see only solid traffic from Yosemite Parkway to Glen.

One day, my husband chose to pull his truck out of the driveway. I was literally on the blacktop, hands in a prayerful position, pleading for someone to let him out. We had to give up. There are no words for the disgust we felt for the city who had left us to this disaster, let alone our fellow citizens passing us by.

Thank God we did not have a medical emergency! In the infinite wisdom of our city planners, there will be a bottleneck on both G and M at the same time and we will face the same furious traffic following the April 3 start of repairs. Please, please, please, City of Merced, do something to avoid this nightmare on East 21st for the next seven months.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Anne Stevens: City of Merced should not turn East 21st into a nightmare again."