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By Erik Hare

It’s the first day of summer, one of the four seasons we love so much in Minnesota.  To many people, though, it’s nothing more than the “other” season.  We have Winter, which we’re famous for, and we have the flowering of tubineus naranja – the orange cones that sprout like a kind of weed in the middle of our roads.  It’s road construction season in Minnesota!

This year is like pretty much any other in most ways, but it seems a bit worse.  We don’t have to worry about ice and snow hampering our way to work, but we do have to wait in a long line to squeeze through one lane.  Which season is more frustrating?  At least during road construction, we have a guide.

The websites provided by MnDOT can tell you just what to expect in either text or graphics.  There’s no reason to not know just what’s up.  This naturally creates a lot of discussion about how to get from one place to another once the best ways are marked off by the orange cones.  It’s not the most exciting discussion in the world, but it’s terribly important all the same.  It might make the difference between getting home in time for dinner or not.

It’s entirely possible to get into an elaborate discussion with a perfect stranger in a bar about the best way to get to, say, Shoreview.  Road construction eventually becomes something like a pastime to be analyzed the way you might follow the batting averages of your favorite Twins player.  There are so many of the orange cones flowering through the asphalt that it becomes something like a sport.

This won’t go on forever, of course.  Sooner or later, the cold weather will return and the orange cones will wilt like any flower.  But at the start of summer, they have their magnificent blooms all over Minnesota.  It’s worth visiting the websites to know exactly where this show is playing – so that you can do your best to avoid it.  Good luck!