Michigan Roads

Ok, I have just about enough of the crappy roads here in Michigan. The potholes this year are ridiculous. Downtown Beirut has better roads than we do. I was on my way home this morning along Mt Hope Rd and I seriously felt like I was off roading because the terrain was so bumpy. But unfortunately, I am not sure anybody has the political will to do anything to fix them. The other day driving in the capitol parking lot, I hit a huge hole and figured if the politicians can't even keep their own parking lot smooth, what hope is there for the rest of us. The problem is that for the past decade we have borrowed money as a state to finance new road projects. This works well during election years and helped jump start many needed projects. However, now we are stuck paying the bill. This coupled with a reduction in the amount of gas tax has lead to less repairs and maintenance and ultimately many more potholes. One solution being thrown around is to raise the gas tax since that is the primary means of revenue for the roads. Personally, I am all for it and with the way gas prices fluctuate nobody would know the difference. I mean gas just jumped up 30 cents this week. What would an additional 10 cents in tax matter? But I realize I am in the minority and that passing any tax, especially a gas tax in an election year is not possible. So I guess I will have to put up with the potholes a while longer or until the state comes up with some new money to fix them.