I live in a small town in Pennsylvania. (Call my town #1.)
Right on the river.
Down the river a piece is another small town. (Call this one #2.)
Now, each of these towns - mine, and the other - has a bridge over the river.
The bridge in town #2 is condemned for human and vehicular traffic, and plans have been in the works for years - including having residents vote on them - to tear down, re-site, and replace that bridge entirely.
The bridge in town #1 - mine - on the other hand has nothing wrong with it, and is perfectly safe.
But there's an economic stimulus coming, don'tcha know.
So, it came time to divvy up funds to "shovel-ready" projects. Did PennDOT take this opportunity to tear down bridge #2 and actually get funding to replace it? No.
They DID however pull a plan out of their ass to shut down bridge #1 - the one that's a block from my house - requiring a SEVEN MILE detour to get to and from my town, since ALL traffic to and from my town crosses... the bridge.
Does the detour cross the condemned bridge? You betcha.
So, thanks to the concept of "stimulus," we have a perfectly good bridge which is now shut down until the middle of NEXT YEAR at the earliest estimate, and all traffic being routed across a bridge they want to tear down because they are afraid it's going to fall into the river and kill everyone on it.
Is there construction along the detour route as well? Sure there is.
Most specifically, in the intersection directly across the condemned bridge, thus leaving huge lines of cars stopped, waiting for a flagger to approve them passager, on the condemned bridge that might fall into the river and kill hundreds at any moment.
My soul hurts from the stupid.
