How bad are the roads?
In my area, they are so bad I regularly ride the center hump, my truck straddling the double yellow – so as to avoid the pothole’d, badly patched crumbling asphalt on either side of it. In order to avoid losing fillings (and replacing ball joints). In order to avoid having to pay more money for the repairs to my vehicle made necessary by the deteriorated conditions of the roads, which aren’t being maintained with the money taken out of my pocket via the motor fuels (and property) taxes I’m forced to pay.
“The roads” are often trotted out as the prime justification emitted by government snugglers for government. As in, without government – and taxes – there’d be no roads! Well, there soon won’t be – notwithstanding the taxes being extracted by the government.
They are crumbling into oblivion.
This, of course, is deliberate as roads facilitate being able to get around – and more finely, get away, from government.
If you have not already figured it out I will clue you in. The government doesn’t want you (or me or most of us) living too far away from it. More finely, too far away from where it is easier for government to control us. As in close to the cities and outlying areas where there is more (and more ubiquitous) government.
It was much easier to ignore the lockdowns if you did not live in or near a city because it was much more difficult for the government to enforce them. Too many roads – not enough government workers.
The same with “masks” and everything else that relates to government.
I have been able to “get away” with not paying to renew what is styled the “registration” of my vehicle for the past almost five years now. I also do not get my truck “inspected” – because I am fully capable of inspecting it myself and do not charge myself for the operation, as the government does.
This “getting away with it” has put several hundred dollars back into my pocket. Or rather, prevented my pockets from being emptied to the tune of that sum.
I have been able to “get away” with it precisely because I do not live in or near a city and so am far away from government – and government enforcers. They are still out there, of course – as they are, everywhere. But there are fewer of them around here – and none of them have automated plate readers (ALPRs), which are omnipresent where there is a lot of government. When your “unregistered” (and “uninspected”) vehicle passes within scanner range of an ALPR, a government enforcer is alerted and then you stop “getting away” with it.
It is interesting to pause here a moment and reflect on the way language is used by government to shame people who try to “get away” with preserving their money, among other things.
The key to shedding the burden of this unearned shame is to recognize that there is nothing in the least shameful about objecting to your money being taken by those who did not earn it, in order to use it to finance things you don’t want to pay for.
Such as a stupid decal to affix to your vehicle to show it is “registered” and “inspected.”
In the past, “the roads” was a pretty powerful argument for government – and taxes – because there were roads and they were well-maintained. Italics to emphasize what they no longer are. Given that fact, what is the argument for government now? What is it we’re getting, exactly, in return for all we’re paying?
Other than poorer?
And in that case, why continue paying?
. . .
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We get one thing for the money extorted from us, and it is simply that they don’t come kill us or put us in a cage. Exactly the same as any other protection racket. The different names for it and the myriad ways they take it doesn’t change this very basic fact.
Agree. We went from protection of life, liberty & property to straight control for monetary & power gain.
We have the biggest government on earth, which tries to control other governments. How does this serve the average Joe? Doesn’t.
Government is a giant game and we are the prize.
City governments have found a way to pave some roads…drop it on the new construction contractors building permit. In Seattle, they will require paving the entire road in front of the property that is being developed. Then try dealing with these government sinecures. These so called *traffic engineers* don’t assist in planning or assisting the contractor thru their labyrinth of rules and regulations. It is death by a thousand cuts; every plan is reviewed for 10 weeks then rejected for some minor reason. Correction made, new item found and another 10 weeks.
I spend $350,000 in just traffic controls, traffic planning, road closure permits, temporary parking rentals.
That’s how paving gets done in the big city and only one block at a time.
> City governments have found a way to pave some roads…drop it on the new construction contractors building permit.
…and to deal with the ongoing cost of maintenance, these new neighborhoods all have HOAs that will be on the hook to maintain the roads. Since they’re privately built, they’re also privately maintained (look for street name signs that are brown instead of the usual green). One side effect is that it’s nearly impossible to find a new neighborhood that doesn’t have an HOA. Want no HOA dinging you monthly or quarterly? You’re going to be restricted mainly to older neighborhoods.
(That’s the situation in Las Vegas, at least. YMMV.)
The family cottage on a lake in Michigan is on a private road. All the roads around the lake are, and are maintained by the individual homeowners (no HOA, thankfully). They are in far better condition then the public roads in the area. You see a small sign at the entrances saying that it’s a private road, no gates or anything, so the general public can drive thru, no one is going to stop you from passing through. Few do though, since its not a direct route to anything but the houses on the road.
Another perk of private roads. The local cops don’t patrol them either (wish that was still the case with DNR on the lake itself).
Every gated community is another example of private roads. Since they are closed to the general public, no tax dollars are allowed to be used. So those roads are on the homeowners (who by the way are still paying property taxes anyway). The only private community that I have seen roads in poor condition was a very badly managed condo association, so almost everyone stopped paying their dues. They will at some point have to dig out of a hole (literally).
But Eric, now I can renew my registration online! So convenient!
I renewed the plates on two of our vehicles yesterday from the comfort of my home. It took just a few minutes, compared to an hour or more at the DMV in the old days. No taking a number, and no grumpy witches snapping at me. I had to go to that office a couple of months ago to pay the sales tax on our new car, and the place was deserted.
The government tries to sucker you into thinking they’re doing you a favor by streamlining the process by which they steal from you. Unfortunately, most people fall for it. “Yay, look how quick and easy this is! Thank you, thank you! Now I have more time to go shopping with the big income tax refund they gave me!”
Then to add insult to injury, they charge extra when you pay online with a credit card or e-check (the only options), and have the nerve to call it a “convenience fee.”
Without government, who will neglect the roads?!
Out here in the sticks, where the roads are dirt and “not maintained”, the roads are maintained by the residents, and if you see a guy on a grader or backhoe doing so, you throw him a few bucks if you have them.
The freeways, however, have gone to complete shit in recent years. On Az 93, I 17 and I 40, here in Az, there are areas where the potholes are bad enough to cause my truck to jump all over the road and scare the shit out you if you’re not expecting it.
I’ve been bombing ADOT lately with calls, e-mails, and tweets. Convinced a few others around here to do the same. Clammy Kate Sloobs has filled their upper echelon with political appointees, trannies and diversity hires. None of them in the Admin have any real life foreman or management experience fixing and maintaining the roads. The department is filled with paper pushing bloated fucktards.
Believe me BaDnOn, as a new arrival to the north you have no idea how nice and well maintained the roads up here used to be. Just a few short years ago you rarely saw the crap you now see everywhere. Hopefully one fine day we get enough pissed off people to lay siege to the ADOT headquarters. Maybe after enough pain, suffering and monetary damage have been endured the beatings can stop.
Its getting to the point when I want to take my pristine, garage queen T-Bird for a cruise I go out days before to make sure I’m not going to ruin my tires or suspension.
I’ll see if I can give ADOT some digital and telephonic vitriol along with you, Norman.
Governor Select Hobbs has been AIDS the entirety of her short term in that orifice. She recently vetoed a bill that would’ve banned photo traffic cameras statewide. And every time she vetoes something actually worth passing, she cites… “Saaaaaaaafety!!!”. I can hear Eric every time.
Maybe if enough of us scare them, they might do their job. Doubtful, but worth the effort IMHO. Exhausting peaceful means is the precursor to the next level. Maybe we in Az will start the next Sage brush/Prop 13 type movement.
At some point AZDOT will cry out in pain, staging a false flag. Where some poor sot of a road worker gets pelted in the back of the head with a slurpee, thrown from a frustrated driver. Bet on it, its what they do when they’ve sacked the treasury, leaving the work undone.
Hoob’s is so out of her depth its stunning. She’s a scared rabbit, who cant go one moment unscripted. She is illegitimate. Backed by cartel drug money and dark pools of Soros needs to be removed. Her ability reminds me more of a day care worker or newly hired librarian than a Governor.
As for safety, I hear Erics voice, as well as Dr. Savage every time one of these halfwits cites it as an excuse. I’m fairly certain though that Eric coined the term.
They stole that election from Kari Lake. I wonder what damage that Hobbs is going to do to the state of Arizona. You know how to effect real change in AZ? Move the hell out and flip neighboring New Mexico red. It would only take 500,000 more conservative type voters to flip that state cherry red and turn that place around. New Mexico only has 1.2 million people.
The thought has crossed our minds. Right now we’re looking at going back to Nevada, if you can believe that. Starve the beast of their regressive state income tsx. Theres always Alaska. No income taxes + after a year you get a royalty check courtesy of the oil companies. I love it up there, Just got back, going again at the end of summer. Just don’t know what I’d do with myself in the winter.
Truth be told the entire SW is, in reality already cherry red. Its just a handful of cheaters who cheat have convinced everyone they’re in the majority. New Mexico has some really nice spots, but I’m probably still to stubborn to move. Arizona is my home since forever and I don’t like being run out buy a gaggle of light in the loafers LIGBITS.
Hi Norman (and Swamp) –
My folks used to live in AZ, near Phoenix. I know the state a little bit – and it absolutely has its charms. My main personal issue is I like the mountains and greenery. Alaska has both – but also the cold. I recognize, of course, that our ancestors dealt with less-than-ideal climates and conditions for the sake of being let alone in what was then still the New World. It may be necessary for us to do the same – or at least, similar. I have personally experienced the enormous increase in personal/everyday liberty one can experience merely by moving from an urban to a rural area. Night and day difference. The farther you can remove yourself from population – to an area that is not “cool” – the more you can live a life that’s more in line with the freedom Americans idealize but which most have never had. Right now, for instance, I could walk out the back door and shoot the tree stump that annoys me every time I have to cut the grass. I don’t have to beg permission to paint my shed any color I like. In winter, I can heat my place using wood I cut on my land – and to hell with the power company. And so on.
I imagine in rural Alaska (and similar) it’s even better.
“My main personal issue is I like the mountains”
Flagstaff.
I’ve had the kind of life you’re talking about Eric, for the last 11 years. Living in an unincorporated Census designated place. I still love it here. Love being able to do the things you mentioned. It just grates at me to have to pay, moar to support the influx of those who have not the slightest amount of self awareness. The taxes here are only going to get worse. I guess they found my weak point. Impeding my ability to travel freely by license, insurance, fees and such is something I can work around. Making the roads almost underivable is infuriating.
I like the mountains as well. I also like living near water. Alaska has both in abundance. Every time I visit I can almost see myself living there.
> Right now we’re looking at going back to Nevada, if you can believe that.
We did manage to shitcan Steve Sisolak in the last election, so we have that going for us. Joe Lombardo hasn’t been afraid to use his veto pen, either…think he might’ve set a new record or something. The Legislature is still chock-full of fuckwits who need to be rooted out, and the Clark County Commission is 100% Demwit, but there’s still a chance of restoring sanity here.
Spent twenty years in Vegas, its way to crowded for me. So I was looking at Laughlin. Although Laughlin is still part of Clark County. Sisolack was probably as awful as Hobbs is. Just without the moldy queef vibe.
Hi Swamp,
In re Lake: The brazenness of the steal in AZ – by Hobbs – is such that I am certain the people who did it feel emboldened and will do it again. Why not? What has Lake been able to do about it? I mean other than complain, file lawsuits that will go nowhere, etc. I point this fact out to a good friend of mine – that “process” is a hopeless redress if the system is corrupt – but he doesn’t get it. Neither do many others. The only way to deal with this business is by doing the same – and more – to the Left that it does to us. You don’t not gouge eyes and nut-kick in a street fight. The Right does not understand this yet.
Kari Lake is so strong and so articulate that the communists felt they had to ‘nip it in the bud’ as Barney Fife used to say by going all in for the steal and it completely worked . Hobbs refused to debate her. Unheard of but she knew she would get destroyed. Lake won the real vote by at least 20 points. Outgoing RINO governor Ducey never said a thing and neither did the republican wing of the uniparty because they wanted her to lose. It was one for the record books. But Arizona likely did elect McCain so maybe they’re getting what they deserve.
In Phoenix I’ve never seen a pothole. But who cares? there’s still nonstop tearing up and repaving roads, road closures, orange barrels everywhere. Supposedly some radar like device is used over roads to determine when they need to be ripped up. Such a scam.
Hi Mark,
Well, of course! Cars also last forever in the desert! It’s the seasonal heaving of the earth due – expansion and contraction – that crumbles the asphalt.
Mark3,
Try driving to Showlow Az. I was in a rent a car but thought I was not going to make it back without blowing a tire. Granted, you guys (and Trans) in Arizona had a big winter with lots of snow on the road due to global warming.
I can vouch for that, Mark3! Perpetual roving construction, whether or not it’s necessary. My GF put for the hypothesis that perhaps they just didn’t have enough storage for all the orange cones and barriers, so they “store” them all over the roads.
I can probably tell you where all the money went “for the roads”. Here’s give an example of government “wisely” spending taxpayers money. The small town I live in just released its revenue/spending for this fiscal year. It has $3.5 million in funds while public works had a budget of over $250,000. Administrative was 1/3 at almost $1.2 million! The majority of that money pays for a bunch ass sitters who do nothing but collect a salary while pushing a pencil (if that)! Just imagine the “administrative” costs at the state & federal levels while any actual work never gets done. This is a prime example of Trickle Down government funded public “service”!
The government loves bad roads because you can’t go fast.
Here in southeastern Michigan, one cannot travel anywhere without dealing with the ubiquitous orange barrels. Orange barrels are Michigan’s springtime “flowers”.
That’s bad enough, but it gets worse.
There appears to be no coordination of repair zones and recommended detours.
A good example is I-75 south, the recommended detour being parts of 8-Mile Road. It turns out that 8-Mile Road is being worked on as well, being reduced to one or two lanes. It is a royal clusterf#ck caused by state official’s stupidity.
The 26-Mile Road bridge over I-94 is closed for “repairs”. The recommended detour adds 10 miles to one’s road trip, just to get across a damned bridge. Actually there is nothing wrong with the bridge. It take a closure of two months to add two guard rails.
The so-called “traffic engineers” are laughing their asses of at the motorists who are forced to endure their stupidity and indifference.
Not only are the recommended detours being worked on, sensible changes such as changing the timing of traffic signals to account for the traffic changes is never done. What the hell do these traffic engineers do?
Sorry Eric, I don’t feel sorry for you at all, :). We’ve lived with these things in the rust belt forever. Sometimes they get fixed, sometimes they don’t, but it is certainly worse now than before. And hence my forever search for better riding vehicles, and our major issues with cars with low profile tires, etc……
The latest methods for paving on our few Interstates is to put a shallow new layer on top. They do this at night now, very fast, and they almost never stop during warm months.
A question often asked, “If not for government, who would build the roads?”
Answer: “The same people, only better and cheaper.”
As the roads in my area now stand, it wouldn’t take much to make them better, and as our tax bill now stands, the same goes for cheaper.
How are the Psychopaths In Charge supposed to pay for enslaving us if they are “wasting” money on infrastructure for us slaves?
Better to spend a trillion on the “defense” budget, even though it’s already more than twice that of China and Russia combined, but still can stop an errant weather balloon, or produce a working hypersonic weapon, which both China and Russia already have in service. Like everything other line of the “budget”, me thinks that little of that money is spent on defense, but to line pockets and fill off shore accounts of psychopaths. Both Rs and Ds.
Every government is founded upon its assumption of authority to kill you if you disobey. These are not sane people. Don’t expect them to act as such.
The sad truth is they are driving the rest of us crazy with their male bovine fecal matter.
“can’t” stop an errant weather balloon.
The holes in that top picture look just like those on Interstate 17. Not the part around the green zone mind you but the part where we deplorable’s live. It never used to be like this in AZ. We used to make fun of New Mexico because their part of the Interstate 40 was so FUBAR, now the the situation is reversed.
This could become our tea party moment. A GovCo that cant do something as simple as keep the potholes filled has no business in any business, much less galavanting around the world freeing the shit out of people.
Shortly after I moved here in ’89, the two lane blacktop in front of my place was resurfaced. The State didn’t have to touch it for maintenance for ten years. Since then, the “new” contractor the State has employed has resurfaced it half a dozen times, and they are usually out there patching it within a year. Now they don’t even bother with resurfacing, because it costs too much. Wonder why? Instead we get a thing called “chip and seal” which lasts perhaps as long as it takes to install it. Perhaps not. I live in one of the poorest counties in the State, but the local road crew is very good at patching. Go across the county line to the very wealthy neighboring “people’s republic”, and it looks like children have been playing with the machinery. Unless you live in a very wealthy area, or between there and downtown. Then you get a resurface as a result of the slightest complaint. Money talks, don’t you know.
Chip seal is the worst. If there’s enough traffic to squash the “chips” into the “seal” it just turns to asphalt on hot days. If not, the cracks just come back deeper.
Oh the cursed chip seal. For our large but sparse population county I give them credit for road maintenance which includes chip seal. They do put up warning signs weeks ahead so I know where to avoid with the motor scooter. The worst is the immediate ‘hood, only done once in 10 years, reach around the mailbox so you don’t step in black tar with your shoes.
Fun in town on a hot day, parallel park in the sun. Months after supposedly set up and solid, a 90 plus degree day fracks the tar and black oil seeps up thru the rock chips so you get a nice oil slick on your soles.
I was stopped by a “hero” for displaying an expired registration sticker (2021) this week.
The ticket would have been meaningless since I had a current year sticker but not displayed on the window so the hero started nitpicking other things.
“Are you wearing contacts?”
“You watched me take my *prescription* sunglasses off after I rolled down the window.”
“Why is the last sticker 2021?”
“I paid but they never sent me 2022.”
(Unsaid — registration enforcement in Texas was waived in 2021)
Correction — registration enforcement was waived in Texas from the start of lockdowns through April 2021, but many county employees were “working from home” that year.
Man, I’m glad those heroes are there to keep me saaaaaafe. What part of Texass are you in? I’m near Houston. This place is an armpit. Not as bad as many, but its really kind of crap.
City of Rifle wants more money for roads. The tax increase would only go to Rifle owned roads, not county or state. Reasons are increased labor, fuel and materials cost.
OK then when the cost of doing “business” goes down will they remove the tax and restore it to the 2005 percentage? If inflation is transitory and temporary then so should this tax.
And why weren’t the wise financial advisors able to predict the inflation and warn the village elders to plan ahead? If they did, why didn’t the elders heed their dire warnings?
Something tells me this will end up propping up the city workers pension fund.
https://www.postindependent.com/news/city-of-rifle-calls-for-45-sales-tax-increase-to-stabilize-street-improvement-fund/
You cannot see many potholes in rain. I hit one riding my bike and did some unwanted fancy maneuvers. Did okay. Better luck than skill any day! Sold the bike. Many of the roads here are in bad shape. Not only will it cost money for vehicle repairs but your life is in needless and reckless danger. Human life is getting less and less important these enlightened. Much of the problem lies in allowing very heavy vehicles (18 wheelers,,, Cement trucks) on roads that were not designed for the loads.
‘What is it we’re getting, exactly, in return for all we’re paying?’ — eric
A $1 trillion porkfest for ‘defense’ contractors, thanks to the R-party.
$125 billion wasted on the Ukies, in a bipartisan effort.
$400 billion of indiscriminate student loan relief, thanks to a bill “Biden” just vetoed, which would have stopped the egregious giveaway in its tracks.
And so forth. Usable roads for no-account citizens are the lowest of government priorities. Our world is inverted by pillagers and saboteurs with badges, seeking to ring in a new Dark Age of neofeudalism in which impotent serfs cower under the lash of the liege lord.
As of today, even the pretense of freeishly choosing presidential candidates has been rudely circumscribed. This is war. We are the designated enemy. Act accordingly.
That picture at the top of this article could have been taken around here as well. Maybe some of the billions of dollars making their way into the offshore accounts of Zelensky and company could be better spent fixing “infrastructure” here in Amerika. In fact I bet that some of that money is being used to fix the roads in Ukraine, just like they did in Afghanistan. A perpetual motion machine – blow it up, then fix it up, rinse, repeat.
We’ve had almost 3 trillion in infrastructure bills, over and above what is already taxed for “muh roads” since 2009. Every road in the US should be paved in gold by now.