You are driving down I-57, I-55, I-90/94, I-294 or any other major highway in Illinois. Suddenly, you see a sign that reads "road construction ahead for next 15 miles". The speed limit drops from 65 to 55 miles per hour and traffic begins to back up. Let's say you are traveling north on I-55 and you are unexpectedly riding on a road which is graded and unpaved. The other lane is in its usual condition, in need of repair or not, but there is no construction crew in sight. In fact, there are no road crews for the entire stretch of highway that is supposed to be under construction. You might ask why this is the case. Well, private contractors in Illinois have learned how to play the funding game. Instead of completing one stretch of road, before tearing up another, you find a patch work of torn up highway, sometimes for over 100 miles or more.
There is a reason for this. Construction companies have learned, if they tear up a piece of road at mile marker 155 through 160 and then tear up another section of highway between mile marker 170 and 180 and repeat this process infinitum, the contracts they received from the state will have to be fulfilled. In the past, if the state of Illinois ran out of money to pay for repairing the infrastructure of the Illinois highway system, a section of road would be left for another year's budget. But if a road is partially completed, covering a substantial distance, the work cannot be left for another year. That is why you will see a ten mile stretch of highway--which is in different stages of repair--not being worked on.
Sometimes it's so ridiculous, a piece of highway will be torn up for a quarter mile and traffic will slow to 55 or perhaps 45 for that short distance and there will be no road work being done for 25 miles or more. Often you will see signs which says "road construction ahead" and then come across another sign which tells you that you are out of the construction zone when there was no construction being done. This is a very clever bit of legal gamesmanship being practiced by contractors who want to make sure the contracts they signed for the jobs they bid on and won are fulfilled. And really, in a way, you can't blame them.
For example, if the state signs a contract for a company to do 100 miles of road, that business will make sure they get paid for 100 miles of road repair by doing it piecemeal. In the past, road construction was done in a linear fashion, complete one section of road and move on to the next.
So, the next time you're sitting in a traffic jam and wondering how long it's going to take you today to get through the construction zone, first of all you can thank the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" better known as the stimulus package, for your plight. No, the highway you're traveling on probably didn't need repair, but there were billions of dollars to spend. Your tax dollars, or let's say your children's tax dollars or perhaps their children's tax dollars. And thanks to some clever road construction contractors, you might expect that ride--which usually took a half hour--to last twice the time. So, pop in another one of your favorite CDs or listen to your I-Pod, and plan to leave early, but at least now you know the reason why.
Daniel T. Zanoza of Lincoln, IL, formerly of Chicago, was born into life November 27, 1953, and born into eternity January 6, 2011.
He is survived by his wife, Julie, of Lincoln, IL.
Dan was a pro-life/pro-family activist, as well as chairman of the Springfield Nativity Scene Committee in Springfield, IL. He was also a journalist and freelance writer.
