By Peter Hannaford on 7.6.06 @ 12:06AM
It's gotten so you can't even pay to drive -- only to wait.
This Fourth of July was the 230th anniversary of our declaration
of independence from George III and his minions, but we may never
be free of the foolishness of bureaucrats -- at least not in the
Chicago area.
Just south of Chicago, Interstate 80 goes in a more-or-less
straight line across Illinois, from the Indiana border to Iowa.
Westward from the Indiana state line for about seven miles, there
is large upgrading construction project underway with new
overpasses flying here and there. It makes Northern Virginia's
"Mixing Bowl" look like child's play.
Last Saturday afternoon it required one hour and 30 minutes to
go the length of the construction zone. While the evidence of
construction is everywhere, no one was working that day and two
lanes were open; no closures, no merges. The cause of the snarl was
a State of Illinois toll plaza at the end of the construction zone
which extracted all of 60 cents from each vehicle!
Traffic approaching the toll plaza from the west, where no
construction was going on, stretched back three miles. If the
weekend problem was this bad, imagine what must happen on
weekdays.
Who is responsible for the thousands of lost citizen-hours and
the thousands of gallons of wasted gasoline that evaporate into the
air? The answer: Illinois bureaucrats, determined to collect their
60 cents. And who could have done something about this? Creative
elected officials -- apparently in short supply. This is a federal
highway, essential to the transportation of huge amounts of goods
by truck, not to mention individuals on business and personal
trips.
The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, is up for
reelection and his administration has other troubles on its hands.
His Republican opponent should make sure the voters know this one
should be added to the list.
What about Illinois' two U.S. Senators? Barack Obama is busy
auditioning for President and Dick Durbin is busy playing attack
dog against any and every Republican initiative on the Senate
floor. With a little creative thinking, they could relieve the
congestion, the lost time of thousands of citizens and help the
clean air movement at the same time. This being a federal highway,
the funds paying for the upgrade doubtless come from the U.S.
Treasury.
The senators, perhaps joining forces with House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, from a nearby Illinois county, could get the Federal
Highway Administration to use some of those funds to reimburse the
state for lost tolls, in exchange for it closing the toll plaza
during the several-month construction period.
What would happen to the toll takers until October, when the
current madness is scheduled to end? A long holiday would cost the
taxpayers less than this mess. Those toddlin' tollsters could spend
the time sampling the delights of the nation's Second -- err --
Third city.
Messes of this type are not restricted to Chicago and its
suburbs. They happen in many places, all stemming from the same
mindset. The contractors are concerned only with construction; the
bureaucrats are concerned only with keeping their toll-revenue
stream continuing uninterrupted; and no one -- least of all the
elected officials who should care -- pays any attention to the
interests of the citizens.
While the politicians carve out wasteful "pork" earmarks, in
real time their constituents are often ignored. Perhaps this
November, some of the constituents will engage in payback.
topics:
Transportation, Barack Obama, Business, Earmarks, NATO
