LOL....Todays Conway Daily Sun.

[Lakesrider]

Front page article on some guy that wants the State to repair his road. Shows a picture of the road. It is like glass compared to Rt109...
Maybe I should send a letter to Gov. Hassen and demand the State repair Rt 109.......

Read the article it is pretty funny after looking at the picture. I'll contact the guy and tell him I'll buy him a beer at Bucky's after he drives down Rt109 with me in my truck.....

Rt109...Waste of stimulus money for sure!

[VitaBene]

I'll trade you a 109 for a 25B!

Seriously, our stretch of 109 (Old Country Store to Sandwich did not even get the stimulus paving). At Least it slows every one down!

[Lakesrider]

It is really obvious during snow storms. You can see the plow blades never stay on the roadway. The bumps lift the blades and make them jump off the pavement so much it hardly looks plowed at all. I feel for those plow drivers. It must be hell driving these roads and plowing during winter. Of course the pay makes up for that I guess.

[Rusty]

This is what the guy said about the road...Too funny!

"Some drivers are sustaining damage to their vehicles because the road is in such poor condition. Bacon said he bought a Toyota truck and within about a month the suspension broke.
One elderly man told Bacon that he won’t go to his doctor appointments because the road is so bad.
“It’s like a roller coaster,” said Bacon describing the feeling of driving on East Conway Road."

[Lakesrider]

See....No worse than any other road around here......

[pcmc]

Sorry to go against the grain here, but good for Mr. Bacon. It takes a lot to stand up, especially in public like like this. This is what it sometimes takes to get results. The ol' the squeaky wheel gets the grease scenario.

It's a shame to hear the skim coating that was applied is now probably worse than before, but I'm guessing that was said it would be, as people watched the work being done.
In CT road repair never ends. Our highways as well as side roads disintegrate shortly after they are applied. When winter hits we don't get the heaves so much, the blacktop and/or concrete sections open up with brutal pot holes that will swallow a wheel if your not paying attention.

To properly fix the roads, imo, they need to grind the old surface, build up the base, and lay fresh black top. Everybody wants it done right, but no one wants the inconvenience that goes along with it. Oh wait-that's me.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by pcmc

To properly fix the roads, imo, they need to grind the old surface, build up the base, and lay fresh black top.

I'll send this information to the NH DOT and see what that have to say about it. It should do the trick.

[pcmc]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I'll sent this information to the NH DOT and see what that have to say about it. It should do the trick.

Ahahaha, that's all they needed. They'll be fine now.
(Still laughing)

[SunsetPointWentworth]

If you would like to see the state roads improve, support the gas tax bill. It's been 22 years since it's been raised. Oh, and stop paying the state troopers out of the highway money.

I've worked for Pike Industries for the past ten years and we are constantly in discussions with the State House. The problem is that every politician is petrified of the gas tax. Who wants to be the guy/gal, running for re-election and having their opponent having the ammo, that you raised taxes. On gas no less.

[wifi]

Originally Posted by SunsetPointWentworth

...The problem is that every politician is petrified of the gas tax. Who wants to be the guy/gal, running for re-election and having their opponent having the ammo, that you raised taxes......

The politicians are probably right, I know I would take a close look at someone that raises my taxes instead of cutting the pork...

[SteveA]

As a dedicated lifelong "Lefty Commie Pinko" I am never opposed to raising taxes for all sorts of things (LOL) But spending tons on money on trying to fight off Mother Nature is a waste of money.

If you build roads where there is water flowing under the landscape, you are going to get frost heaves in those roads. Until the Hover Craft become the main mode of personal transportation, the Rocks Come with the Farm.

While I feel bad for the gentleman with a problem driving the roads and feeling the pain from potholes, poring money into the problem will simply not solve the problem. It's like putting a few dozen politicians in jail for corruption, new one will take their place in a millisecond! :laugh

[jeffk]

I feel that we should keep our roads in reasonably good condition and pay for the cost of doing that.

The problem is, there is a gas tax and highway tolls collected for this purpose. Does the amount EXPENDED FOR roads EQUAL the amount COLLECTED FOR roads by the gas tax and tolls? If not, then more money should be allocated for roads out of the general funds. When the road spending = gas tax + toll revenue and, after several years at that spending level, the roads still need more work THEN up the gas tax.

As far as I know, all the taxes are tossed into the general fund and income that was "for roads" becomes available for politicians pet projects. Road spending gets shorted. Since poor roads and unsafe bridges are a leverage issue, i.e. the public will respond to them, the politicians and dopey media will moan about the poor conditions of "infrastructure", not telling you that they pull millions from "road income" into other projects. They know you won't broadly support funding these other projects so they make it about "the roads". You agree to a 10 cent gas tax increase and 4 cents of it still ends up going to other stuff and the roads never seem to get fixed.

I will admit that I don't know the actual numbers but I would bet that I am correct.

It's a great racket for the politicians

[chipj29]

I read yesterday that raising the gas tax 4 cents will raise $25-$35 million per year. I think it is a great idea. However, the way the bill is written, only 55% would go directly to road improvements. The remaining % would go to DOT, state police etc.
I would support a 4 cent gas tax increase, but only if 100% went directly to road improvements. Heck, raising the gas price 4 cents doesn't even make people think twice these days.

This is from guy who buys 30 gallons of gas a week. A 4 cent increase would cost me an extra $1.20/week.

[pcmc]

Originally Posted by chipj29

I read yesterday that raising the gas tax 4 cents will raise $25-$35 million per year. I think it is a great idea. However, the way the bill is written, only 55% would go directly to road improvements. The remaining % would go to DOT, state police etc.
I would support a 4 cent gas tax increase, but only if 100% went directly to road improvements. Heck, raising the gas price 4 cents doesn't even make people think twice these days.

This is from guy who buys 30 gallons of gas a week. A 4 cent increase would cost me an extra $1.20/week.

Your absolutely right it doesn't sound like much out of each pocket, but it won't stop there.

Now imagine if each money spending politicians could save those nickels, dimes, and dollars how it could add up that way.
When people work with huge million dollar projects, budgets and such a few thousands here and there, over and over, are drops in the bucket, especially when it's not there money to worry about.

[Lakesrider]

If you look at a couple sections of RT109 from RT25 to the 90 Degree turn on South Main St in wolefboro you can see that the road can indeed be fixed to not have the whoopdeedoos. By 19 Mile Bay from the store to the PAK 2000 business and from the town line in Wolfeboro up past the hairpin turn it is like glass all winter. They just won;t spring for the reconstruction. So we are relegated to the speed bump, car sickness invoking roads. Same goes for RT109A. And many others. Look at RT25. Holy crap what a mess that road is as well. That said RT109 is a scenic byway and is eligible for Federal money to improve the roadway. Just no one wants to do it.

The problem as mentioned about the gas tax, (Use tax) is that the money will never go to the roads. Every politician will have their hands in the pockets of the tax pants until someone pulls up the bottom of the pocket to say "See we are out of money again, let's raise the tax again. It will never end. I say cut the pork too. Let's kill some of those EBT cards, hunt down the welfare violators, system beaters, etc.....But no one will do it...There is more than one way to come up with money. I am not against a tax increase for gas. I am against it not going to where they say it will. We need to make the State accountable for fixing our infrastructure and if it does not happen, we need to get rid of the people that are holding these offices. Plain and simply....no one will do it.

[pcmc]

I wonder if 'the people in office' look at not fixing the roads as a form of job security. If the road doesn't get fixed this year the will need to be there next year to listen. Sort of like the office desk job that has mounds of papers every where and sees it as look how busy I am with all of this work I'm doing...or not doing.
Imo, higher taxes are almost never the right answer. There is money set aside it's only to be used on what they want it used for. It surprises me the State wouldn't be super aggressive at maintaining your roads. People love to get out and drive, and the views in NH are breath taking. At the same time I will back pedal myself and mention the progress on I-93 is very nice. It's great to get where you want to go but when you get there you have to miss the views because you keep banging your head against the roof of the car.....well.

Wasn't the stimulus all federal money? It didn't seem to accomplish much in a beneficial way.

[Descant]

It was only a few years ago that Gov. Lynch referred to DOT as "the state's ATM". It got a laugh but had some truth to it. DOT pays Safety for Troopers, and DES for Dredge and Fill permits, etc. If you don't ask for your (boat) gas tax refund, a portion goes to Fish & Game, and some reverts to the general fund. The move I thought was most @*$^ (can't think of the right words) was when the Highway Division sold a little less than a mile of road (I-95) to the Turnpike Bureau for about $113 million. (If DES sold land to F & G, wouldn't the price be $1.00?). As I recall, two cash payments of $15MM and the rest over time (bonded). This was done with "No tax increase." The Governor and Council raised the Hampton tolls, 60% of which is paid by non-residents.

For those who want to raise the gas tax, you can just move to Somersworth or Merrimack where the local citizens pay both the gas tax and tolls for local travel.

[TheProfessor]

Originally Posted by chipj29

I read yesterday that raising the gas tax 4 cents will raise $25-$35 million per year. I think it is a great idea. However, the way the bill is written, only 55% would go directly to road improvements. The remaining % would go to DOT, state police etc.
I would support a 4 cent gas tax increase, but only if 100% went directly to road improvements. Heck, raising the gas price 4 cents doesn't even make people think twice these days.

The legislature could easily write the bill to state that 100% of the "new" tax monies went to the cities and towns for road improvements.

[trfour]

I think everyone should stop and fish in the potholes, that would slow traffic enough to maybe get them to fix'um...

Terry
___________________________________

[Lakesrider]

Originally Posted by TheProfessor

The legislature could easily write the bill to state that 100% of the "new" tax monies went to the cities and towns for road improvements.

Ahh but we are also talking about State roads. Such as RT109. State Road. Scenic Byway. Yet nothing is being done to fix RT109. So the State still needs to figure out how to fix it's own roads. Whatever happened to the RT25 paving and roundabout project? Years in development and still nothing but a skim coating put down and even that was a mess if you remember. I'm still waiting to see if the problem they had is going to rear it's ugly head in a year or so of heavy traffic.

[BroadHopper]

The idea to widen the Interstate to support 'future' traffic is old news. Traffic count has been declining for years. So why are we spending money to widen a perfectly good road? The money should go to fixing our infrastructure. Is the legislature waiting for a bridge to collapse resulting in a fatality, before they start to think about this?