Dead End

Florida has its own culture. You don't really realize it until you move down here, and you start to avoid going to the beach in January because "it's too cold", or you drive to your friend's house just down the road because "it's too hot" to walk, and your ideal footwear never requires laces.

Along with this goes those things that most people actually consider culture - a Spanish influence in architecture, a whole host of country radio stations that you can pick up the second you leave any major city, etc, etc. But there's something else that I have (so far at least) found distinctly Floridian: the vanishing sidewalk.

The sign says "welcome", but what I think it meant to say was "get out".

What's with this? Do they suppose that you just decided that you've come far enough and are insinuating that you should turn back now? Or that maybe you've had your fill of sidewalk luxury and should start walking in the street from here on out? Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get somewhere, only to discover that your path has been terminated for you.

Ok, so in reality, there has to be a technical reason for this. Like, the local government deemed a certain area not "developed" enough for a sidewalk, or something. Or maybe, it's up to the people who own the property to install a sidewalk and some people just aren't that willing. Granted. But, what happens when a sidewalk goes out into the middle of nowhere and just stops?

.....?

That one is on campus, at USF, near the gym. Did they change their mind mid-construction or something? Whatever the reason, it's a little frustrating and confusing for the pedestrian. For me. Sometimes, like in the case of this one, you can tell before you branch off onto this path that it leads nowhere, so you don't take this way. But sometimes, you don't know until you've made it halfway down the street that the sidewalk ends (in my "hometown", on the other side of Florida, sidewalks end at telephone posts, or street lamps) abruptly, in the middle of nowhere, leaving you no other place to go but the road, or a ditch.

Whether cities want them to or not, these kinds of sidewalks (or rather, blatant lack thereof) send out a pretty negative message. They say "we don't care about you, or your safety after this point". They say "we don't want your exercising kind here". Roads do the same sort of thing, but at least they have a sign stating that you're turning onto a dead end. I wonder if they'd consider making signs like these for pedestrians? (....."sidewalk dead ends"....."dip in sidewalk"....."yield to crossing lizards".....)

But that's not the way it is. Instead, sidewalks just mystically end. It's like they expect us to just disappear along with the pavement. I don't recall ever finding this sort of thing in any other state, although I'm sure it might exist. I just think that if newspapers want to continue to call us all an obese nation, and that health care reform is making a gigantic splash on TV, that we should at least be provided a cheap but safe way to exercise (and travel) without getting run over.

-Andy

P.S. The best sign ever would be a "do not walk on the grass" sign at the end of every sidewalk that does this.