So maybe I'm feeling a little too, well, Ya see, the roads out of my place in the world are few. One is a thread between the forest and miles of wetland, has not side roads off it, and doesn't branch onto another road for 10 miles. In a direction I (and most other folks here) seldom go. The other road is a little better, having two offshoots in it's 15-mile wind through the forest. But to get to the grocery store, or anywhere neccessary, there's only 1 way. And the city (The one that's 15 miles away. That city.) have decided to close off a 50-foot section of it for more than a month. To replace a highly servicable concrete pipe that stormwater flows through. Replace it with a full-blown bridge. Basically, a full bridge over water currently routed nicely through a 15-inch-diameter, 10-foot-long drain pipe. And did I mention the water only flows there in heavy rain? And that on the "downstream" side, there is not even a vague "stream" but rather a horse pasture that floods on occasion? So we are to be routed onto an extremely narrow backroad that includes a blind corner. I think we found the guys that built that bridge to nowhere up in Alaska!! So there now, don't you all feel better about whatever nonsense your own local government dreams up. Glad I could help.
Aren't the 'powers that be' sometimes more than a little lacking in good, old common sense?!!! :-x Why can't they just leave well alone and save money, time and energy - maybe even lives because of that blind corner. After all there's an old saying 'If it ain't broke then it don't need fixin'.
But as ridiculous as that bridge sounds and is, there is a quirky logic to it's building. Cities receive xxx number of dollars every year for road improvements from their state agency. If they do not spend that money by the end of the fiscal year that money goes back to the state and the amount returned is deducted from their funding amount for the next fiscal year. The reasoning being that if the city couldn't find anything to spend it on then they must not need it and since they didn't spend it all one year they will have a hard time convincing the budget makers to give them an increase at sometime in the future when they really do need it. So cities, counties, states spend all the money they receive for those projects so that they are assured of getting at least the same amount next year.
Why couldn't they fix the bad road first, then fix the bridge later? More money spent, and a happier CritterPainter too.
Or perhaps they have long-term planning on file that is looking to expand out that way? I know that's happened here... when there's a 'city improvement' in a countryish place, you can look for the suburbs to follow. Sounds like you'll practically have your own private bridge - maybe you should apply to have it named after you. ;-)
lol. good idea Prim!! As far as further development, everything on this side of the bridge is being snapped up by the Nature Conservancy- they don't cause much traffic at all! And Toni- I wish my annual household budget worked like that! I've seen that same arrangement firsthand, and the folks involved bought the SILLIEST things when it got down to the last minute. As far as fixing the bad road, that blind coner loops through thick, green marshland- conservation laws won't allow it to be redone, and that thick greenness is an amazingly effective visual barrier! The only safe way to traverse it is to come to a full stop before the curve, then creep forward slowly- the curve isn't really wide enough for two cars, has a sharply sloped bank, and there is a power pole too close on the downslope side. O, and there is a work-release prison beyond me so many buses (besides the school buses) will be traveling there. Don't mean to sound like gloom, there's actually quite a bit of humor in the situation. I plan on setting up a comfy chair and a pot of coffee down there to watch the show in the mornings!
Great idea, CritterPainter! Please bring both camera and video recorder, we'd like to look at the chaos too.
