I’VE OFTEN WONDERED!

I’VE OFTEN WONDERED!

(STREESBLOG.net, Martti I. Jaatinen, Ranko Radovic, Lauri Anttila, The New Yorker)

(Green Bay Press Gazette, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I used to drive a big rig, a tractor (truck) pulling anywhere from a 45’ to a 53’ trailer full of freight distend to cities throughout the United States. I enjoyed my driving career, the open road, the challenge of getting from point A to point B on time. I felt that I was my own boss, even though the company owner had invested in excess of $125,000, paid the licenses, the fuel, and stood the upkeep of the unit I was driving.

 

I’ve went through the mountains of both the Virginia’s as well as those Rocky Mountain skyscrapers in Colorado, Arizona, and the high grounds of California. It was always a thrill, breathtaking and humbling at the same time. There has never been a truck driver that who couldn’t have said that he was “wide awake” when he was maneuvering the winding roads of the mountains.

 

I have always marveled at the spectacular beauty of our country, and I should know, I’ve traveled from coast to coast almost always under the intoxicating spell of the grandeur of America. I’m not so sure that a road can have a character like breathing, walking, talking person, but road-ways do offer unique aspects that is usually identified as a part of that road-way.

 

I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin and the freeway, U.S. 41 that practically encircles the city has been, and is under construction, and will be for another year or two. The project involves traffic route changes, upgrades to on and off ramps, and those dreaded round-abouts on most of the get-off and get-on ramps. I’m not understanding the reason for these round-abouts, they seem to be a deterrent to traffic flow, and are costly to maintain…..pretty much because trucks, cars and big rigs have to circle around the damn things to get to whatever street they are going for.

 

I know it’s a European thing, England, Germany and France just to name a few countries that enjoy these things. I suppose it’s kind of cosmopolitan to establish these rather quaint foreign additions to United States roadways.

 

DID YOU REALLY THINK THE AESTHETICS WERE FREE

I can tell you for a fact that drivers on today’s highways do not need a flock of cement birds, or a concrete swamp scene, or some geeky looking cherub figures peering down at drivers from the side of the overpass.

 

If you figure that I’d call these designs distracting, forget it, they aren’t, if they were, that driver should be off the road because he’s an accident waiting to happen. These pictorials don’t enhance a passengers riding experience, nor are they a driver’s distraction, they are just there as a sidelight to a bridge, an overpass, wrought iron railings, stone work, or in some cases, road signs.

 

I can’t show you any figures with regards to the cost of these frivolous concrete images on our roads; I don’t have the time or the desire to research. I can tell you that the U.S. 41 project to the west of Green Bay has a budget of $1.5 billion dollars, and of that budget, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will spend $21 million of these worthless murals, stone work, and iron railings.

 

 

 

 

 

IT’S ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE OVERALL COST

If I had a nickel for every time a governmental department said that, I’d be on a beach right now sucking one of those drinks with the umbrella. GIVE ME A BREAK, about a year ago we got a brochure from the Wisconsin D.O.T. in the mail, telling the Green Bay citizenry about the project on U.S. 41, the possible traffic back-ups, and to please be patient, and drive with care.

 

The cost, close to $2,000…..now that is a real minuscule portion of the U.S. 41 budget, but gee whiz, for weeks before ground breaking the project, the overall goal, and the timeline were plastered all over the media, you had to live in a cave to not have heard about the project.

 

Yet the D.O.T. decided to spend $2 grand on mailing the brochure as a sort of proclamation of the impending project. What idiot decided to do this…..who knows, somebody who undoubtedly sat behind a desk, completely unaware and made the stupid decision.

 

But when you get to talking about $21 million, well that is quite a bit more money than the $2 grand for a brochure in one city. Do I hear (out of control)…..these jerks are a power unto themselves, and figure that they know what is the best way to spend…..our money.

 

Well I’m one guy who doesn’t need road aesthetics cluttering up my highway, it isn’t a beautification,  interesting, or  provocative, and it sure in hell doesn’t make my trip any more enjoyable. The $21 million $2 thousand dollars can sure as hell be spent on more people friendly projects, like parks, picnic areas, ball diamonds, or shelters for family get-togethers.

 

This is just one more example of why we need a government that is active in how budgets are made, and what projects sidelights, or special interests need to be monitored, slashed, or redirected. In short we need our elected officials to do their jobs.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!