Column for Jan. 26, 2012

Before I start ranting, I wanted to rave a bit.  I want to brag on my son, John, who took first place in the Pack 95 Cub Scout annual Pinewood Derby this past weekend.  He put a lot of thought and effort into his car, as did all the boys who competed.  I am the Bear Den leader, and all of “my boys” did well.  I am very proud of the sportsmanship, creativity, and effort that went into each car.  I can honestly say that I enjoy Pinewood Derby more as an adult than I ever did when I was a scout.  It is amazing how much I get out of Cub Scouts as a parent and leader, as well as how much my boy gets out of scouting when he has an active, supporting parent to work with him.   If you have a son in elementary school that would like to learn more about Cub Scouts, feel free to contact me.  Now, in the words of M.C. Hammer, “It’s column time!” or something like that.

I hate toll roads.  Whenever I drive through the northeast corridor or some parts of Florida, I end up paying a lot of money in tolls.  Some states hit motorists at a high rate, others just nickel and dime you.  A trip to New England costs over $20 in tolls, one way.  My last trip to Miami was over $10.  Now we have a toll road in the Triangle area.  I was just reading about North Carolina wanting to have tolls on I-95.  This is nothing new and the topic comes up every once in a while.  Now that the ice has been cracked in getting an initial toll road, I knew that it would be just a matter of time until the I-95 toll idea actually took a stronghold.  

The state Department of Transportation has just issued a report suggesting that I-95 be widened significantly, some bridges be raised, and some bridges replaced.  I understand road maintenance, but widening I-95, putting up toll plazas, and spending $4.4 billion?  Johnston County has the oldest stretch of the interstate, so it also has some of the oldest and lowest bridges.  I cringed when I saw that rather than replacing bridges over the past few years, the DOT spent millions of dollars just raising the height of some bridges by a mere eighteen inches.  Why not spend the extra money, do it right, and replace the bridges rather than having to come back later and replace them, anyway?  That was a waste of taxpayer money, but it would not have given the DOT as much job security with some expensive busy work now, and some guaranteed work later.

We pay a high tax rate as it is, but a lot of money is seemingly squandered on busy work projects.  I just pulled up an article I saved from last September when the DOT was going to hold public hearings on proposed road “improvements” on Highway 70.  These so-called improvements included median closures at key intersections that will inconvenience motorists and are totally unnecessary.  It was bad enough that the DOT closed the median crossover on Highway 70 at Oak Street in Selma.  I used that crossover almost every time I drove home, but now I waste more gas and time going further down the road because some pinhead who has to justify his existence on the state payroll wants to improve a roadway at great taxpayer expense.

I used to live near where the Booker Dairy Road extension was going to cross Wilson’s Mills Road in Smithfield.  That road now runs right next to where my driveway was.  Now that the roadway is finished, I still fail to comprehend its great necessity or benefit over its cost and inconvenience with eminent domain and development processes.  Furthermore, like a lot of bypassing roadways, some local businesses will suffer.  

I have a friend in Shallotte, North Carolina whose business is suffering from a similar road “improvement”.  About every business trip to Shallotte, I stop by his restaurant for some of the best chicken wings known to mankind.  His restaurant business has dropped off considerably since a new roadway was built, bypassing a mile or two of roadway.  The road was not so busy as to be burdensome in terms of traffic.  The local residents, mayor, and town council are all baffled as to the need for the project to this day.

Even worse, these two bypassing projects were partially paid for with the so-called “stimulus package” federal spending.  The boondoggle allegedly meant to stimulate business actually has helped kill business.  Even worse still is that the DOT wants to nail us for even more money to pay for interstate improvements via toll roads all over after they continuously squander our tax money on road improvements that are unnecessary and inconvenience the very ones paying for it.  We already pay taxes, and now it looks like we are going to be taxed a second time to drive on the roads for which our tax dollars pay.