Quote:
Originally posted by AGDee
That transportation bill includes a bridge to go over (or under) a railroad track that is a half mile from my house and if that gets axed, I'm going to be an angry tax payer! Those tracks cut off the fire station and hospital from the rest of the city and I have waited as long as 35 minutes for trains at that spot. It has become a huge safety issue. I saw an ambulance pull around all of us who were waiting for the train and wait in the left lanes for 20 minutes the other day. When the train finally finished, it couldn't get through the cars that were on the other side waiting to cross. I said a prayer for the person in that ambulance and thanked the Lord that it wasn't me.
We need our bridge, please.
Dee
ETA: Both the city and owners of the railroad tracks are paying 1/3 of the cost too, so we're only asking for 1/3 from the fed budget.
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Worthy projects in every state should be funded, since the money comes from gas taxes paid by drivers in every state. Projects supported by local contributions (1/3 local, 1/3 railroad) should get extra consideration. Contrarily, the famous Alaskan bridge to nowhere has no local financial support, and Alaska is not a big contributor to the pool of gas tax money.
Every state's projects shold be ranked, and the worthiest funded when $$$ are available.
"Pork" gets involved when Senators and Reps specificly insert projects in their districts into the federal budget, without any ranking by worthiness or need. It's an elected official picking a project to help his re-election campaign.
My highway/bridge contractor brother-in-law always teased me about all the highway and bridge money Georgia got when Carter was president, and there was a lot spent around here before the Olympics.
Unfortunately, Bush and the Republicans seem to be outspending the records set by Clinton and the Dems - including in GA.