Bridges To Nowhere — By John Reed

Bridges To Nowhere
Back in 2005, there was an effort to build a bridge in Alaska to replace a ferry to a town of less than 50. The cost was on the order of $350 million, and was derided nationally as an example of wasteful government spending. Even Alaskans opposed this “bridge to nowhere“ and suggested the money be sent to New Orleans to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
Senator William Proxmire was famous for awarding his “golden fleece award“ each month to the most obvious waste of taxpayer money. Things haven’t changed much in the decades since: Senator Chuck Grassley called out the Air Force in 2018 for spending $10,000 on toilet seat lids.
Unfortunately we see similar issues at the state level. With the passage of the infrastructure bill last year, there are a lot of highway projects going on around the state. And while I am glad to see some construction going forward, there are still some things that don’t pass the smell test.
For example, few can deny that four laning US1 between Baxley and Lyons is long overdue. On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine the road between Glennville and Reidsville will ever see enough traffic to justify that four-laning project.
For me, the biggest questionable use of construction funds had to be the massive logging projects along the interstate highways. I can only assume some politician has a brother-in-law in the timber business. It gets better: after felling all the trees, grinding them up into sawdust or burning the piles, sometimes they have gone back in and planted new trees.
Surely, there are better uses for our tax money. I would just be happy if they would repaint the lane lines on some of our rural roads, and improve the sidewalks in town.
But then that would require common sense.