Near where I live there are a lot of narrow roads, used only by farmers going to their fields and cyclists out exercising. Recently, some of them have been widened for no apparent reason. The one pictured here is typical: The bed of wildflowers, grasses and weeds that used to be alongside the road, between its and the irrigation ditch on the right, has been sealed under asphalt. It wasn't a biodiversity hotspot by any stretch, but it was better than adding non-reflective, heat-absorbing blacktop...Why has this been done? Not so the road can handle more vehicles. Traffic of the four-wheeled kind is very light indeed. To ease access to houses? Well, the widened section doesn't even reach the one and only house here.
The fact they've done some but not all of the road, and haven't even gone as far as the house, suggests there were budget issues. Government units can award contracts without a competitive tender if the contract is below a certain amount. Did someone in the township government decide this needed to be done, to help a friend out? Couldn't they have thought of something more useful? Pork barrelling is covering this island with concrete.
1 comment:
Pork barrel largesse methinks
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