Students have always struggled with getting to school. 

Early wake-up times, transportation, those annoying pedestrians, the works. Who would’ve thought that I’d need yet another obstacle between home and getting a C+ on my first Algebra 2 test?

Well, apparently that’s what the Contra Costa Transportation Authority thought, as they decided it was appropriate to shut down numerous streets around Cal High that had nothing wrong with them. 

I pity the poor fools who have an A period. They didn’t even see it coming.

The newest gruesome mutilation of our road system was the work on Alcosta Boulevard. It began not long after school once again opened for business.

How convenient. 

The noise pollution of heavy machinery was only matched by the dirtied air. The dust, along with the smoke from the 700,000 fires around the state, were the nail in the metaphorical coffin for those who wanted to do outdoor activities, and the literal nail in the coffin for asthmatics.

But some thought it couldn’t get any worse. Those people clearly do not learn from history, which, to be fair, is about 90 percent of folks these days.

The next phase of the obstructionist road work came on Aug. 31, ready to enter the new month with a fresh mindset and a new plan to block my “Getting Home” speedruns. The record for me is to be inside my house by 3:10 p.m., if you’re interested.

On that fateful day, a Renaissance of tearing up began.

Unlike the historically illiterate, the devils in charge of this stupid project did study the past.  

From Veracruz Drive to Pine Valley Road, the city took a page out of Berlin’s book and erected a great divide. Not a wall, but the effect is the same. 

For miles, a ditch where the road once was and traffic cones and signs kept apart the two groups, a people divided by an outside power. See it now? 

We’ve yet to see machine gun nests there, but I say patience is a critical virtue.

This further work caused even more unnecessary inconvenience, with crosswalks entirely incapable of function without the constant attention of a crossing guard just like elementary school, and detours that might as well send you through Mexico and back.

Whatever “The Man” decides, the common man will have no say in it, so we all just have to sit down and shut up as our tax dollars are dozing around the water cooler. And, we may yet have more road work on the way.