At least some areas of the USA, once undisputedly the greatest and most prosperous country on the planet, are returning to gravel roads!!! (Story courtesy of WWMT, Channel 3, in Michigan):
Rural Mich. counties turn failing roads to gravel| javascript:recommendReview%28Articlewwmt1363526%29 - Recommend 16
June 12, 2009 - 4:43 PM
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Some Michigan counties have turned a few once-paved rural roads back to gravel to save money.
More than 20 of the state's 83 counties have reverted deteriorating paved roads to gravel in the last few years, according to the County Road Association of Michigan. The counties are struggling with their budgets because tax revenues have declined in the lingering recession.
Montcalm County converted nearly 10 miles of primary road to gravel this spring.
The county estimates it takes about $10,000 to grind up a mile of pavement and put down gravel. It takes more than $100,000 to repave a mile of road.
Reverting to gravel has happened in a few other states but it is most typical in Michigan. At least 50 miles have been reverted in the state in the past three years.
Will Middletown be forced to turn to this option at some point in the near future if our tax dollars continue to be squandered on pie-in-the-sky schemes, multi-million dollar clean-ups for back room real estate deals, fancy "gateways" and the like?
-------------
“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012
|