Butler says goodbye this weekend to a very old and good friend - the Main Street Viaduct, which has served the city well for more than 85 years.

Just how good of a friend the viaduct has been will surely be pondered over the coming three months when traffic will be forced to use two official detours - and a countless number of detours concocted by individual motorists - to get around the city.

Only time will tell whether traffic tie-ups materialize of the scope some local officials fear.

However, the travel-time price motorists will pay between now and October is the price of progress and revitalization. Those who become impatient should ponder what it would be like if the current viaduct would have had to remain in place and someday would have been deemed unsafe for travel - without any replacement plan drawn up.

The city would have been tied up for years.

The inconveniences that motorists endured during the time the South Monroe Street Bridge was closed would have seemed like a picnic in comparison with the indefinite closing of the viaduct.

Some people might feel a sense of nostalgia in terms of their memories relating to the Main Street span. This is the weekend to capture the last days of the viaduct on film in order to show pictures of "yesterday Butler" to future children and grandchildren.

But in this instance, saying goodbye holds a positive outcome - a new four-lane span that will create a modern entrance for the downtown for decades to come. It has been estimated that the new span will have a life of 100 years.

So, saying goodbye doesn't mean Butler should be sad. Instead, it should be elated.

A new day for downtown-area travel is only months away.