On the Road Again

Thing #151: Road Projects are not always meant to improve said road.

It's true. I always assumed that when a new construction project was taken up, the end goal was supposed to be better than where it started, but apparently that isn't so.

Example 1: Last year they demolished a decent, though not in great condition, road nearby. After finally repaving the road, it was actually in better shape, so I assumed they were finished. Wrong. They came back and cut a strange rectangular hole in the new road. Then, eventually, they filled the hole with pavement that doesn't quite line up with new paving around it, making it like a little misshapen speed bump tucked away in one lane. But still this wasn't the end. Over the next few weeks, they cut two similar holes and did an awful job filling them. You would think whatever needed to be done could have been when the road was demolished, it's not like they hurried to repave it.

Example 2: The beginning of January they went to the road connecting to the first one. (All these roads, by the way, make up my commute to work). This time they demolished the old road leaving a sad dirt path with chunks of old road and manhole covers sticking a few feet above the ground in places. About three weeks later they finally started the repaving process. It wasn't bad at this point, except they left about a two foot wide gap between the new paving and the old roads that intersect, and the pavement on the old roads sits about two feet higher.

A week or so after this phase, the man hole covers were miraculously back a couple of feet above the pavement. It went on this way for most of February. Until about a week ago that is. Now, right at the intersection where I turn on to this road, in the lane I need to turn in to, there is one of those mysterious rectangular holes, this time longer, wider, and deeper. So how is my tax money helping keep Alabama's roads up? It's not. I'm paying them to cut holes in my roads so I can drive through an obstacle course every day. Well, there are still two roads I drive on in my commute. I suppose they will decide to "improve" those next.

The Chimp