Posted on 06/13/2009 12:18:43 PM PDT by magellan
As goes Michigan's crumbling economy, so go some once-paved rural roads now being turned back into gravel.
About a quarter of the state's county road agencies largely left out of the federal stimulus package, which focuses on highways and other major thoroughfares, say they can't afford some costly repaving projects and have crushed up deteriorating roads.
Montcalm County alone estimates it saved nearly $900,000 by converting almost 10 miles of pothole-plagued pavement into gravel this spring.
Reverting to gravel on low-traffic roads has been done to some degree for years and long-term savings and maintenance costs vary widely. But it can be an attractive option for municipalities seeking to save money up front and it's recently been done in a few other states, including Indiana and Vermont.
More than 20 of the 83 counties in Michigan, home to the nation's highest unemployment rate for much of the past four years, have turned rural roads back to gravel with no immediate plans to repave, according to the County Road Association of Michigan. About 50 miles have been reverted in the last three years.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
They just turned the state “kinda” highway next to my property from paved to gravel - thank you Oklahoma.
Gravel Roads may be cheaper, but they are sometimes less safe.
Easier to get cracks in your windshields as well, and even a small crack can become a bigger problem once a Michigan winter rolls around.
Not to mention, they make your car all dusty/dirty.
We’re soon gonna be sorry all those buggy whip manufacturers went out of business.
Even in third world countries they are paving roads, as it is a sign of progress. The rats are willing to mismanage everything to a point that the US becomes a banana republic. Disgusting.
Does anyone else see this as a sign that the standard of living here in this country is trying to be lowered?
I read Atlas Shrugged. This is going backwards. Just like in the book.
If they’d get all the wealth-redistribution schemes and the high govt employee benefits out of their tax code and gubernut spending programs (in other words if they did first and most what the govt should do), there’s no doubt they could pave their rural roads, again.
Is there even one aspect of what is going on today in this country that WAS NOT covered in Atlas Shrugged?
True. Of course we are using our dollars to gravel our roads while the third world countries use our billions to pave theirs.
We are becoming a giant sink hole thanks to our worthless leaders.
Hyper-inflation?
Tough! all cost cutting measures are welcome. Otherwise you can start paying european style taxes.
Third world countries don’t use union labor or
have gov-inspectors to buy off. They just get
things done and move on to the next 100 miles to
be paved. (Like we use to do.)
Used to be three beer joints in Bloomington with dirt floors.
Guess those roads just aren’t shovel ready.
Yep.
Anything that makes it a little tougher for the city slickers to get to the good fishin’ holes is AOK with me.
Ditto that!
Tough times call for tough measures!
Carry a slingshot in MI, ammo is on the county (road, that is).
One of our biggest problems is money that’s supposed to go toward roads is siphoned off to pay for other things. For instance, Carl Levin wants transportation funding used to save the old Tiger stadium.
Few bits here and there, but they were thoroughly covered in an earlier book... 1984.
All you use gravel for is to "mark the trail", so to speak, and to hold the sand in place so it doesn't just wash away to the side.
Northern Indiana has more muck, and gravel stabilizes muck in dry weather to reduce dust. It does nothing in wet weather but if it's piled high enough it'll keep you out of the swamps.
Gravel roads don't work everywhere.
BTW, throughout the Midwest it is commonly the case that "gravel roads" are really pea gravel and tar concoctions that most folks can't tell from more formal paving techniques with heavier asphalt.
The city of Indianapolis has several thousand miles of peagravel and tar roads that are kept in shape by filling larger potholes with asphalt compounds.
The book had leaders, the John Galts, Hank Reardens, etc.
We have John McCain, Lindsay Graham and other lame nitiwits.
Contra point of view,
I live in a rural area of Oklahoma where the County Commissioners want to get re-elected. They take a huge hunk of one-time grant money, pave country gravel roads so developers can make big money developing “estates” in the country without being in the city. (Rural development grants, rural water district grants, 911 terrorism grants for law enforcement funneled to Sherrif’s offices all makes this attractive and unrealisticaly lowers costs to the developers and county dwellers.)
There is NO WAY the commissioners can maintain the roads they pave. But they don’t care. Their real estate buddies get them re-elected and they all live happily. The developers could care less about how pot-holed the roads becomes after they sold all their new houses. (Except the road to their personal residence!)
I would far rather drive on a well maintained gravel road and put up with dust and rocks, than drive down one of these pot-holed paved monsters in the rain. It’s bad enough when you can SEE the potholes.
My view of government is that no matter what they build or start, needs to be sustainable with the expected revenue stream. These roads have no chance from the outset.
Just my opinion.
Oldplayer
How are Nobama’s GM electric cars going to perform on dirt roads?
I can’t wait for Detroit to get gravel roads.
That’s a really well thought out perspective. You make some very good points! I just can’t look at ANY idea the current Marxist put out there without wondering what the angle, the catch is.
The bad thing is the damage gravel does to the underside and fenderwells of your vehicle .....
Bad analogy.
The John Galts, Hank Reardens, etc.
Were not politicians. They earned honest livings.
That should make the third worlders, that are streaming across our borders, feel right at home
True, it’s just that we are lacking leadership in this country. Lets get along and take the same road down to socialism. The republican party just wants to go down the path a little bit slower.
Michigan should talk to San Fransisco. They know all about dirt roads.
No, the problem is that the feds are using highway funds for general purposes. Get rid of the federal gas tax and force states to pay for their own roads. Roads and infrastructure are vital public services and should not be privatized.
Oh, I welcome cutting cost, on things that we don’t need. However, I want the government to spend more to make me safe on the road ways.
They need to cut funding on sports stadiums and other such needless junk. Heck, Biden was in town here yesterday talking about how Obama is going to fix the 94 highway by Kalamazoo and Portage, however we just got it fixed last summer, and its very nice and safe already! Take some of that money and spend it on roads that need it.
While I agree with you that the states should collect all of the gas tax and use it to pay for highways, I want to point out that states are no better than the feds at siphoning gas tax money on unrelated spending.
Heck, in Penna. they want to put tolls on Interstate 80 but use the toll money to pay for transit programs in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I-80 in Penna. goes nowhere near either city.
“Does anyone else see this as a sign that the standard of living here in this country is trying to be lowered?”
I see it. Can anyone yet see how the last war will be fought with horses and bows and arrows and swords, according to the Bible?
What about Porkulus? I thought that Porkulus was supposed to be spent on lots of shovel ready project such as road maintenance.
Since it was Bush’s fault that bridges collapsed, is it now Obama’s fault if roads are crumbling under his watch??????
All are demonstrative of democrat/union/statist policies in action. Civilization is fragile. These cities and states show that like 5th century Europe, civilization can retreat in the modern era as well.
This story goes hand in hand with the one about them tearning down half of Flint, MI.
I think the article mentions that rural roads were not included in the porkulus. From what I read, it appears that the porkulus is nothing more than a pr campaign.
Is this the same state that advertises on CNBC on a daily basis urging businesses to move to Michigan? It ends with the actor saying, “Because in Michigan, you get the upper hand.” Obviously, a play on the geographical shape of the state. It sounds more like Michiganders are getting a bit less than the “upper hand”. More like the “middle finger”.
“We’re soon gonna be sorry all those buggy whip manufacturers went out of business.”
Maybe all the out of work newspaper presstitutes can start making them...
miping
I live on a dirt road, off a dirt road, off a dirt road - in Vermont. (Vermont has the highest percentage of unpaved roads in the U.S.) We manage just fine but, of course, we have two SUVs. The only hairy part is MUD season!
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