Around the block

One thing I’ve learned about people when it comes to political issues. We can disagree on anything and everything under the sun, but universally — Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, pro-this or anti-that — we all seem to want good roads. I’ve yet to hear anything from the Anti-Roads Party.

Well, I can tell you one thing: The roads have been a mess lately. With all the ice and snow and then more snow and the single-digit temperatures, the roads have been dangerous. Despite the cold, my wife has been making me go for a 30 minute walk every day, and I can assure you, if you didn’t venture out last week, I do not blame you. I saw next to no one else out walking and very few cars on the road, except for a few Jeeps. Man, Jeep owners… those guys live for this kind of stuff.

Well, you can bet that once this frozen stuff finally gets out of here, the asphalt underneath it is going to need some attention. I mean, it already did in a lot of places and the freezing and thawing and freezing and thawing water over the past several day definitely will have done it no favors.

I know the streets in my neighborhood were already overdue for a fresh layer of asphalt. I’m sure many of yours are as well.

You know, back in November, the voters of the Great State of Arkansas approved a Constitutional Amendment making a one-cent sales tax on gas permanent, thus assuring there would be plenty of money in the budget for road repairs. I guess we didn’t know just how smart we all were, huh?

We need a whole lotta pavin’ goin’ on…