Local priorities ... highway repairs

Every morning I wake up to cars driving by on the highway less than a quarter mile away from my room. Recently, the Richmond Times Dispatch (our local White newspaper) published a news article (link below) about a repair project on Hwy 64. The article said "The $43.3 million I-64 project will repair and resurface 5.6 miles of much-patched pavement on both sides of the six and eight-lane highway." 43.3 million dollars for a 5.6 stretch of highway? That's over half of one million dollars per mile per lane of highway. When I read the article I thought about the fact that we spent a whole afternoon stuffing envelopes hoping that we might be given $5,000 dollars in return.

I'm tired of the American public failing to understand that in order to maintain our isolationist system of transportation we are paying more money than we could ever really fathom. Instead of all of our money going to transportation that is available to everyone (street cars and trains) we put vast sums of money into transportation that is really only available to those who can afford to own, maintain and fuel a car. It is not surprising (considering our healthcare system follows much the same logic), but it is unjust and we must correct our ways.

Noone knew that they wanted to drive on highways until they were constructed. The largest building project in the history of the USA is the intricate system of asphalt and concrete arteries coursing through our nation. It seemed like a good idea at the time ... but now looking back it was the worst idea possible. It (along with racism) ruined our city core and led us like the pide piper out into sprawl. Now, we are left with the declining infrastructure and a love/hate relationship with the machines that we thought would bring us freedom.

Here at Partnership for Smarter Growth, as with most non-profit organizations, we spend much of our time raising money. With an operating budget below $100,000, we're not exactly big dogs, but we advocate for smarter growth in the entire region and most of the city-wide initiatives we advocate (Bike/ped) would cost less than a few hundred thousand dollars each. That's why it is so difficult to stomach the price tag attached to highway construction and repair. In a moment of desperation late after a long day and evening of work Sheila looked at me and said, "The thing that sucks about non-profits is that you're always asking for money." I have to agree, but the thing that sucks more is to know that there is more money than we would ever need going in every direction except that of smarter growth.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/transportation/article/VDOT211_20090520-233805/269042/