Clinton County, Michigan Considering Converting Paved CO Roads To Gravel - Repaving Too Expensive

[hatrack]

EDIT

Other alternatives are too expensive, officials say. Those include spending $100,000 to repave the mile-long stretch or endlessly patching it with material that can cost even more on a per-ton basis. "No money - I guess everybody is in the same boat, right?" asked Margaret Surdenik, 78, who has lived on Taft for more than 40 years.

This year, at least three mid-Michigan counties have considered converting paved roads to gravel as a budget fix.

Highway experts have said that not enough money is spent repairing roads in Michigan.

For example, the state Department of Transportation estimates it needs to come up with an extra $320 million a year just to maintain state-managed roads, and many county-level officials around the state have noted that a number of their roads simply go unrepaired.

EDIT

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/NEWS01/803170330

[phantom power]

1. And other states are just selling their roads off to private interests.

Thanks Grover.

[navarth]

2. we need that money to steal the oil

Man the highway viaducts are held together with band aids right now. The crews are out there re-doing them, and they're fine after they've been re-done, but there aren't enough people working on it.

Good thing we're spending billions a month in Iraq. The neglect of the Bu$h administration is doing better work than any terrorist.

k and fucking r

[tinrobot]

3. Third world, here we come...

Yet another sign that we're moving in the wrong direction.

[phantom power]

4. This kind of thing was also predicted as a byproduct of peak oil...

although I would say that so far, it is mostly a product of the 40-year Republican anti-tax pogrom. Peak oil is just going to make it impossible to reverse.

[Tace]

5. Unpaved Roads Work In Vermont

I moved last summer to Vermont, where something like 80 percent of the roads are unpaved. I live three miles up an unpaved road. It's actually very nice, in a rustic sort of way : )

The town plows and sands promptly and fixes potholes and other erosion. Most people drive four-wheelers.

[diane in sf]

6. This is probably also related to population drop in Michigan. Detroit's half empty.

[malakai2]

7. Less energy intensive, isn't it?

Also no emissions from baking limestone, or leachate running off asphalt. I know it's a symptom of a larger problem, but it's about as favorable a solution to a couple transportation ills as we are going to get. I'd sure as hell rather drive on gravel than one of Tyler Duvall's toll roads, and rest assured, that's the other alternative that's going to be offered to correct transportation budget shortfalls.