The recent New York Times article “The Struggle to Mend America’s Rural Roads” used Wisconsin as a microcosm for the infrastructure crisis that either directly or indirectly affects all Americans.
(There was supposed to be a hastily called roundtable meeting about the situation last week, but the roundtable bounced out of Bob’s truck and was last seen rolling through a flock of sheep on its way to a watery grave in Simpson’s Swamp.)
Personally, I’m tickled with the job the county road department does with my own stretch of country road. But for people in many states and localities, broken axles, wrecked suspension systems, busted tires, emergency road closings and unpredictable weight limits for aging bridges are an ever-looming danger. Shoppers, commuters, tourists, farmers and truckers hauling the nation’s food supply are all at the mercy of substandard rural roads.
