A SIMPLE QUESTION FROM A SIMPLE GUY! (Frazer Chronicle)
I'm just a citizen, not of the world, not of a nation, not of a state, not of a region, or even a county or city; I'm just "John Q. Public," hanging out here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, home to the Packers, several cheese companies and a couple toilet paper makers. Do I sound average.....I hope so, because I am, I do have an inquiring mind, things sometimes don't seem just right.....and those (things) get me to thinking, wondering.....and writing.
Yesterday, April 4th I received a U.S. 41 Project Newsletter, "hot off the presses of.....well, I'm not sure," oh I know were the dialog came from, who spoke, or rather who wrote the Project Newsletter, but I need to know how much the thing cost, "it's nicely laid out and printed," who approved it, and after the political thing, why it was necessary.
Brian Roper, the "Group Chief" talked about "significant" construction in Brown County this season, including the Mason Street Wisconsin 54 interchange, Main Avenue and County G in DePere, and mainline work from Orange Lane to Glory Road from 9th Street to Memorial Drive. Roper also cited continuing work in the Wisconsin 29/US 41 interchange, including mainline work on Wisconsin 29, from County J to Duck Creek.
Now before we go any further, I'd like to get one thing straight, although road repair, road work and new construction of road-ways is necessary, it, "road work" is like going to the dentist, necessary, but to be put off until the last possible second and to be avoided whenever possible, the reason.....pain and discomfort.
I hate road work; I used to hate it worse, when I drove for a living, so now it's just a simmering sort of hate. Whenever I come upon road construction, I always figure it's some sort of conspiracy, just against me. The bull-dozers, the earth moving equipment, the concrete machinery, those workers adjusting steel mesh and all the guys hanging around, resting on shovels are there just to make my day a living hell.
There however is one saving grace from summer-time road projects, those women that man the directional stop signs at either end of a construction site. I say "God bless each and every one of them," without them, the summer construction season would be unbearable.
At the height of the summer construction season, some of these bikini clad beauties can really make an old timers day. There friendly, they smile, and obviously aren't afraid to show an ample amount of their sun-tanned anatomy. Whatever they get paid, it's not enough.
I understand that the Newsletter is informational, it just seems in this time of austerity, when Madison seems to be saving every penny that it can, and printing and sending out an informational newsletter is.....somehow counterproductive to what politicians are saying.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation or "WisDOT" was officially established in 1967 by combining several different departments, "which is always a good thing," and today supports all forms of transportation. The department is responsible for planning, building and maintaining Wisconsin's network of state highways and interstate highway systems.
In addition WisDOT shares the cost of building and operating county and local transportation systems, from highways to public transit and other modes. WisDOT plans, promotes and financially supports statewide air, rail and water transportation as well as bicycle and pedestrian pathway facilities.
The department is made up of 3 executive officers and 5 divisions organized according to transportation functions. The main offices are in Madison, but maintains regional offices throughout the state as a way to preserve the local approach to transportation development and better serve customer needs.
Well "la-de-da" (what customer need), and exactly "who" are these bozo's talking about.....us, the taxpayer. Actually they are talking not about local, state, or regional taxpayers.....but the entire country's taxpayer base.
Look I understand that our nation's infrastructure is falling apart, that much of what we drive on is aging almost beyond repair, but here in Green Bay, changing inter-changes to round-abouts simply isn't necessary. Re-surface is the word.....the word of the day.
Federal funds drive the transportation system of today, who are the "federals," us there isn't a secret sect of people "out there" that give money. Taxpayers pay their taxes and the "federals" divvy up the funds to those projects that scream the loudest.
Instead of building "new" stuff, maybe we should look at maintaining what we have in the most efficient way and re-surface. I'm not against new roads, new bridges, or new rail systems, I just think that "more thinking" needs to be used to determine when and where to build new.
Oh, and by the way, this handy dandy US 41 Project Newsletter that I got in the mail yesterday, according to Kris Schuller, groups communications manager for the US 41/Wis 441 project, the news letter cost about $1500.....for the printing alone. Wonder how much it cost to mail the info to the residence of the.....how-ever-many counties?
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