Use my search bar upper left hand corner and enter "road and bridge repair". Worth a read in why this country has so many dangerous roads and bridges. Ex-Transportation Cabinet member under Obama, Ray LaHood is quoted today on CNBC that governments should raise gas taxes 10 % and that would give money to hire thousands of people and buy Cat equipment to get the job done.
Typical politicians answer to all problems. Raise taxes.My 2007 blog outlined the problem and the solution. Break the union stranglehold on public infrastructure. It is typical to see 3-4 "workers" standing around while one person worked. 3 bumper trucks defending 2 workers on highway 57, portions of this highway always being repaired. Why not bumper trucks behind stopping school buses or any public transportation bus? Anyway read my 7 year old blog which contains more detail.
Potholes still filled by hand. I designed a filler that required a driver and a filler with the vehicle having it's own bumper. But the unions would never approve of such a manpower and equipment saver because it would eliminate jobs. and jobs is what we need. Right/ Just like the unions say "we don't give a damn what you build; just build it. So we built the museum, a big money loser if I ever saw one.
And the JS is still angry at me for opposing the billion dollar highway to Chicago which would have turned Peoria into Orlando, the city that LaHood wanted to connect with high-speed rail to Tampa. Only problem was what LaHood promised in fed dollars would have only covered preliminary expenses while Florida would have been stuck with building the rail and maintaining it. The Republican Governor of Florida was wise enough to reject the feds generosity.
Back to the falling bridges and collapsing highways. Tax the vehicles who don't pay gas taxes, privatize the road building and repair. And tell politicians like Obama and LaHood to get out of the way. let every county and city determine their own gas taxes. Why should Florida with it's mild weather support Illinois with it's lousy weather and union bosses running the show.
Anyway, read my 7 year old blog. You will see that we have gotten nowhere except we successfully killed the Peoria to Chicago billion dollar boondoggle and came close to killing the museum boondoggle which was built using millions of dollars of highway funds originally destined for highway building and repair.
To show the ignorance of our politicians, they even considered a high-speed rail between Peoria and Bloomington-Normal.
Hmmmmmmmm.
No comments:
Post a Comment