That may be an apt description of the driving experience during the holiday season in the major shopping areas of Temple, particularly along South Loop 363 and 31st Street where Texas Department of Transportation work is ongoing.
Chronically clogged with cars during rush hour on normal days, motorists will likely have to drive with greater patience and start earlier when shopping for food in preparation for Thanksgiving Day and shopping for gifts during the gift-shopping season that follows.
The good news is that when the going gets tough, the savvy shoppers get going - toward the shortcuts and back ways into the shopping areas.
Known mostly to locals, there are a number of tricky side trips that lead shoppers to a number of larger and busier shopping centers along the Loop and 31st Street.
Over at Petco, located in Temple Town Center, David Maitland, general manager, said people who shop there seem to have learned how to get to the store without getting on the loop.
“I think most of our customers know,” he said. “We do have a few new ones that are new to town and ask how to get here.”
“Most of those who are local to the area often know the shortcuts and back ways into the shopping areas,” he added.
Maitland, who has been at Petco for about a year and a half, said in spite of the construction along the loop, there has not been a letup of business.
You would think it would be hurting business, but I’m still running above last year’s sales,” he said. “It hasn’t hurt us. We seem to be growing at a reasonable rate.”
As for the shortcut, Maitland drives to and from work from Killeen. When he gets to Temple he comes in from behind the store off 57th Street and turns on Scott Avenue. Scott runs east and west between 57th and 31st streets. Motorists trying to get to the shopping center can take Scott and turn south on 47th, then north onto Vantage Plaza.
Those wishing to get to Centerpointe Plaza, which contains eateries and a pharmacy in the same area, can take the same route, but turn south 37th and east on Everton.
Over at Sherri’s The Rosebud in Exchange Plaza facing the loop, owner Sherri Davis said she tells her out-of-town customers just to approach the store on the loop simply because it is easier to describe.
“Of course, I don’t go that way,” she said, adding that she also comes in via Scott, as do most of her local customers.
“All of our local customers know the area and do not go on the loop,” she said. She added that she commutes from Austin, and although she is used to high traffic, she is surprised at some of the traffic that can be found in Temple.
Betty Thrasher, former owner of the store, said she hopes construction would be finished soon.
“They started this two years ago right at Christmas,” she said. “I nearly had a stroke. It’s been a mess ever since.”
She also tells new customers to come in on the loop, and let them learn the shortcut later.
“Everybody that lives here finds a route sooner or later,” she said. “I understand we have to be inconvenienced for progress. I just hope I live to see it finished.”
Darlene Foutz, manager of Round Rock Doughnuts, said she often helps customers who come in for help negotiating the traffic on 31st street when leaving Centerpointe Plaza.
“I usually send them behind us onto Everton Street to the stop sign, where they take a right onto Scott Boulevard,” she said. Motorists then have an option to turn onto 31st or 57th streets.
The doughnut store is about a year old and went into business after construction began about two years ago. She said the shop has had a good flow of customers in spite of the construction.
“We hope for an increase in traffic when it is finished,” she said.
One of the more popular shortcuts leading to Temple Mall and Lowe’s area is 5th Street south of the loop.
Motorists that turn west onto Marlandwood Road, then north on Lowe’s Drive will find themselves conveniently at the side entrances to the mall and Lowe’s.
Another busy area along the loop with a good shortcut is a string of businesses in the area of Kings Daughters Hospital and Market Place shopping center.
When TxDOT initially made all access roads along the loop one way prior to beginning construction, numerous motorists discovered a shortcut going east through the hospital’s private road. The city solved that problem by extending Cottonwood Road, which now runs behind the hospital and connects to Market Loop to the east, leading to Market Place, which faces 31st. Kings Daughters faces the loop.
Those going to stores to the south of Market Place can go east from Market Loop onto Azalea Drive which winds up at shops such as Circuit City and Chick-Fil-A.
Bird Creek Crossing, the newest large shopping center in the city, is located at the intersection of South Loop 363 and Interstate 35. Although one of the busiest intersections in town, and also undergoing TxDOT work, there do not seem to be any shortcuts, at least until construction is finished. All exits wind up either on the loop or the interstate access road.
The TxDOT interchange project at the Loop and I-35 is a $69 million project that began in 2006 and has a 2009 estimated completion date. The interchange is designed to uncork a traditional bottleneck in the city at the point where the loop passes over the interstate.
Stoplights currently control both the loop and I-35 access roads, resulting in loop traffic backing up. The project, when completed, will create a three-level intersection with I-35 passing through the bottom level, the loop access roads at a light-controlled intersection on the second level and unimpeded Loop 363 traffic on the third level.
From about 57th Street to 5th Street, the $28 million loop improvement project has an estimated completion date of at earliest 2009. The finished product will result in four main lanes and at least three access lanes, as well as a bigger and improved 31st Street bridge, including turnaround lanes.
rstinson@temple-telegram.com
