It hasn’t been an ordinary summer for motorists who drive the streets of Marshall on a daily basis.

It’s been a season of road construction on East College Drive between Main Street and Bruce Street. Both intersections at the ends of the construction zone have been closed for at least several weeks.

The project is the second portion of a two-year College Drive reconstruction. Last year it seemed like a smooth process. Other than Lyon County Fair week (when people had to find their way to the fairgrounds), I heard only a handful of complaints.

It’s different in 2026. I’ve heard 10 times more complaints than I heard last year. Hundreds of people have said that it’s almost like having half the town under construction.

They’ve also mentioned traffic congestion on side streets like North 4th, Saratoga, East Lyon, Jewett and Birch. These streets aren’t built for the amount of traffic they’re handling, so it’s important to be patient and to take turns at intersections.

In all fairness, I personally think we’ve had too much complaining. Many people are too dependent on their cars. They’re in too much of a hurry to get where they want to go.

In most instances, it probably takes about 10 extra minutes to go around the construction area. That’s not all that much time. If people plan ahead, they shouldn’t have any difficulty getting to appointments on time. If it’s just to run errands or shop, the extra minutes shouldn’t matter much.

There are days when I enjoy having West Main between 4th Street and 1st Street so quiet. It’s walkable in a way that it never is on a normal year except for Crazy Days.

I’ve wondered if it might be worth really thinking outside of the box. Maybe we could make the Main Street and College Drive intersection a town square, an extension of Memorial Park. The center of our city could become a botanical garden with plenty of benches and a small stage for events.

Don’t worry. I’m not seriously in favor of that. The shortest distance between points is a straight line. Almost everyone wants that straight line back as soon as possible.

I’m only saying there would be advantages if the downtown area was more walkable, more of a gathering place. City officials have done a good job in creating the Marshall Area YMCA, Memorial Park, and Terrace 1872. The green space makes the center of town more attractive.

We should continue to look for ways to add to what’s been done. I’ve always thought that a riverfront trail from Legion Field to Liberty Park would be nice, especially if it could go under College Drive and Main.

For now we should simply enjoy our quieter downtown. It might lead some shoppers to park their cars and walk around to at least several stores. There’s no more walking than what it takes to shop at a box store.

I’ve noticed that we’ve recently had good luck getting several new businesses to replace ones that closed. It’s good to have a vision for downtown. It’s a sign of economic vitality. It proves that Main Street at least in Marshall still offers potential for success.

If we can see some advantages to 2026 construction, it could make the traffic changes easier to bear. East College Drive needed more than just repaving. It needed to be upgraded to meet 21st century design standards.

When it’s done, that portion of downtown will look newer. It will be more accessible and safer. My hope is that everyone will like it when it’s completed and consider it worth a little temporary inconvenience.

The engineers and contractor have done a good job sharing information about overall construction progress and particular intersection closures.

Even the weather has so far cooperated. There have been very minimal rain delays. When intersections are open, they’ve almost never had mud.

One way to realize our good fortune would be to read Joe Amato’s book on the history of walking. It tells the complete story about centuries of hardship, when the only way for poor people to bring things home was to lift them and carry them.

It might be a little harder to get around town in our cars, but at least we have our cars. We have it much easier than our ancestors. We’ve grown so accustomed to cars that they no longer fascinate most people like they did in the mid 20th century. We have to remind ourselves that they’re worth our time, effort and money.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent