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HIGHWAY TO HELL

The construction on Highway 50, heading out from the very western edge of Lake Geneva, is proceeding along, with asphalt being poured and then packed down with big highway rolling machines.  About four inches of the road’s previous well-tarred and the very damaged surface was first removed with other special heavy-duty equipment.

What’s the problem?  Simple.  The surface foundations of the road, going down another six inches or so, beneath the cutting the crew took from above is all cracked, just as it was five years ago when this same company performed the same operations, in the name of rebuilding the road.  Well, the road is not being rebuilt.  It is being, near criminally, paved over so that the cracks will once again break the whole mess up and the road will have to be ‘rebuilt’ again in a few years, just like before.

Meanwhile, the driving public will have to proceed over an increasingly bumpy mess of spider-veined asphalt…the veins caused by the constant tarring that has to be done to keep the cracks from breaking the whole highway during winter, or whenever the temperature changes dramatically.  How can this kind of conduct be allowed by either the state, the county, or even the communities through which the highway passes?

What’s the solution?

Well, take a look, or drive along, the road named Edwards Boulevard (Highway 120), as it runs from Highway 50 near Walgreens in Lake Geneva, all the way to where it turns south in the Town of Linn before getting to Hillside.  That road was built 16 years ago and is as solid and crack-free now as it was when it was built.  Highway 94, running from 50 on into Chicago is the same.  Those roads were built right, and probably for a lot less money over time, since they do not have to be ‘rebuilt’ every three to five years.  They were constructed of concrete, with a sufficiency of foundation depth and thickness wherein the cold and hot periods of weather don’t destroy them.

The front-page photo you are staring at near the top of this article should be evidence enough.  The pavers of asphalt were only half a mile to the east of the photographer when this picture was taken last Saturday afternoon.  By the time you read this, that cracked section of highway foundation will be discreetly paved over and nobody will know unless they read this article or drive on the highway in the years ahead as it begins to come apart.  This section of road was not exclusive.   The whole five miles, from Lake Geneva all the way to the eastern edge of the turn into Geneva National is exactly the same, some parts a little less cracked and some even more cracked.

You don’t need the body, or message contained in this article, to come to your own decision about how this kind of highway robbery should not be allowed under any circumstances.  The taxpaying public is being bilked and that same public, adding visitors and others who aren’t paying local taxes, are also being inconvenienced, endangered, and, at the very least, made noisily uncomfortable while driving in either direction along the entire stretch of highway.  Is this how Highway 12 is being rebuilt?  How about the very long highway stretch that extends from the eastern edge of Lake Geneva all the way to Kenosha?

This is not a new trend. The Geneva Shore Report ran several stories about this kind of highway construction years ago when the last fiasco of Highway 50 ‘rebuilding’ went on.  Nothing was done about the results that the GSR published.  Nothing. Is the public insensitive to its own safety and comfort…not to mention the spending of its money?  Is the leadership involved at every level allowing for and supporting this kind of heinous roadwork totally irresponsible?  It can hardly be argued that this is all being done without anybody really looking at it or knowing about it.  The only hope is that this kind of conduct will be confronted, and then hopefully changed.  It will only happen if the public gets upset enough to say something or write something to the leaders who have allowed all this to happen, again and again, and again.  Wisconsin used to be known for its quality roadways, but not anymore, and this kind of silently tolerated behavior is the reason why.