CareerBuilder came out with its top excuses for being late, and many are pretty funny, but are there excuses for being late that are unique to Grand Rapids?

I have a few ideas, do you have some to add to the list?

1. I got doubled up by the train/traffic light combination at Leonard and Plainfield.

The traffic light at Leonard and Plainfield is long enough. (I've clocked it at over two minutes before). If you add to that a train crossing the tracks, now you've got a mini-traffic jam that could last for a half hour, depending on the time of day and the length of the train.

Google Earth
Google Earth
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2. I was trying to make a Michigan Left on the East Beltline at rush hour.

Unless some caring soul gives you a break, you could be staring forlornly at a never ending line of cars for what Linda Ronstadt would call a 'Long Long Time'. And if there's lake effect snow, and you're trying to make a Michigan left from the kiss and ride lot along 96, forget about it.

Google Earth
Google Earth
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3. They never plowed my street.

Let's face it, it may be weeks before the plows find your street. I'm partial to my North East side neighborhood, but I swear there hasn't been a plow down Rowe Street all winter. If left to fester in a bad winter (we've been lucky this year), an unplowed street soon becomes an off road experience akin to the Baja 500. A run down a rough road could add minutes to your travel time easily.

WZZM 13
WZZM 13
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4. I got the West Side Construction Zone Blues.

Summer construction season is hard enough in Grand Rapids without the orange barrels popping up at an intersection along 131 on the West Side. If you're not a West Sider and you don't know how to navigate the in and outs of the one way streets and the mystical dead ends around 131 and 196, you may be stuck on that trail of tears for 20 minutes until you oddly pop out on Alpine. Or maybe it's just me.

WZZM-13
WZZM-13
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5.  I couldn't drive by Spoonlickers without stopping in for a caramel/vanilla/strawberry yogurt with crumbled Butterfinger on it.

Driving through Eastown can be sluggish at times of high traffic volume, and if you're allowed too much time to think about it when passing Spoonlickers, the frozen yogurt fairy will carry you inside for a huge bowl. Good thing I got ten punches on my Licker's License.

What about you? Are there time sappers on your commute you want to share with us?

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