Tom Greenwood has been up to his neck in concrete and asphalt since starting his five day a week column in December 1997.

The column looks at commuting from the driver's point of view and centers itself on subjects such as road construction (when, where, why and how long), gas prices, traffic laws, seat belt use, safety issues, question and answer columns and the occasional oddball story from readers. The column is tag-teamed with a continually updated road construction map showing the locations of projects in the Metro area.

On the road

In an effort to bring as much information as possible to his readers (OK, and to have a little fun), Tom has done the following:

• Conducted ride alongs with Detroit and Michigan State Police
• Circled endless over the area of Interstate 96 and Orchard Lake Road in a MSP spotter plane stalking speeders
• Toured road construction sites throughout the Metro area
• Toured concrete plants to understand the miracle that occurs when you mix water, cement and aggregate together
• Conducted driving related interviews on buses, on road paving machines, on salt trucks and road plows, in cars, in jails, at train stations, gas stations and at airports

More about Tom

Tom grew up in Royal Oak and graduated from the no-longer-in-existence Dondero High School (Go Oaks!) where he lettered in tennis and excelled in history, English, literature and typing, while reeking at Latin, geometry and chemistry. Tom obtained his B.A. from Wayne State University after spending four wonderful, stress-free years in the kinder, gentler Marine Corps of 1968-1972.

Tom is the father of two smart, funny, gorgeous, adoring daughters who have viewed him as a giant ATM machine since the day they were born. Interests include: photography (4 x 5 black and white), reading, cooking, history, movies (as long as it's not French or Swedish) and working out (no, really!).

He can be reached at tgreenwood@detnews.com.

Things Tom has learned after 10 years of writing a commuting column:

• It's not your imagination; the other lane really is moving faster than yours.
• Gratitude for being shown driving courtesy is a thing of the past: no one thanks you for letting them in line anymore.
• Talking on a cell phone while you're driving is like making toast when you're taking a bath.
• Sadly, there are no commuter column groupies.

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