Thursday, March 2, 2017

In Walker's screwed up WI, gravel roads make their return

The long and winding road in Wisconsin is going from pot-holed to dust.

Literally.

I've been writing for years about Scott Walker's bloated, grandiose, under-funded excessive highway expansion has simultaneously starved road repairs and turned driving in Wisconsin into a game of pothole-and-front-end repair dodging.

This road to reaction and ruin has led to its ultimate consequence at the very local level in one Wisconsin small town where a lack of funding has led to an abandonment of road repairs and the acceptance of gravel roads where pavement had long been correctly the norm.

There's a road in the western Wisconsin town of Northfield that used to be completely covered in pavement, but in the last few years, a lot has changed.
"This is where we ran out of money two years ago," said Richard Erickson, standing on a line that divides paved road from gravel.
Here's what gravel roads are all about: 
A gravel road, as often found in rural areas and developing countries, Wiki says. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How are CAFOs and other big farms going to get their products to market. I'm not even going to ask about the small farms because they are being refused milk pickup - it's not economical for processors.

Anonymous said...

In September I hit an inadequate road repair in Polk County. The "repair" was gravel dumped across both lanes of the county back road. It wasn't tamped down and my vehicle bottomed in and came out hard.

First a front strut broke. Then the oil leak could be seen but the source not found (must be a crack in there somewhere). Then the tranny went to hell. I haven't had a vehicle since October because I am too poor to afford a different car.

I rely on family members to help me with transportation when I need it. I am retired so I do not need daily transport. I have a lot of empathy for those who do work and lose their vehicles.

But I did miss holiday shopping/contributing to the local economy.

I blame Walker and the GOP for all of this mess since they "run" it all. All of the state's ills are their fault.