On my walk from the light-rail to work, I generally walk up 14th Avenue, past the State Capitol. Sherman Street crosses 14th and becomes the entrance to the parking lot at the Capitol. There are two gates that must be raised to enter either the West or East parking areas around the building. Before the gates, there is a small circular area where vehicles tend to drop people off or just turn around. Last Friday, I was on my regular walk up 14th Avenue when I arrived at Sherman Street. I had intended to walk past the Capitol as usual, but this day there was an RTD Handicap Bus blocking my route up 14th Avenue. I stood by patiently as the bus attempted to turn around in the tight area between the two gates. The bus pulled forward toward the Capitol, and then backed up toward 14th Street. Unsatisfied with her first attempt, the driver repeated this maneuver but did not stop at an appropriate distance from the pole supporting the traffic lights. Instead, she backed the bus, backed some more, and then just kept backing until there was a loud “crunch.” I was standing close enough that the sound caused me to jump back in a futile attempt to protect myself from any flying debris. Upon pulling forward, it was extremely noticeable that the bus had dislocated a pedestrian walk/don’t walk light and, were it not for the wires holding it to the pole, this light would have landed on my foot. The weird part is what happened next. A city owned bus, operated by a city paid bus driver, who just destroyed city property, somehow suddenly figured out how to turn the bus around and tore out of the Capitol parking lot in a hurry, the passengers bouncing and swaying in response to the busses over-exaggerated movements. I stood in admiration of the irony as I watched the bus disappear into the city streets, the pedestrian light swinging, pendulum-like, by its dangling wires.
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