We’re on a road to nowhere
Oh, happy day. Apparently, the doom-and-gloom scenario surrounding the expansion of the Selmon Expressway has a silver lining after all, thanks to the quick work of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, who apparently also has a side business manufacturing LSD in their basement. It seems that, in spite of having to spend an extra $78 million in repairs on top of the $350 million the expansion had already cost, they can raise enough money to repay state loans and still have anywhere from 12-40 million left over. And while I laud the efforts of the Authority interim executive director Ralph Mervine to deliver this news with a straight face, at this point, my faith in that roadway has been so undermined, I don’t think they could pay me to drive on that thing. It’s almost taken on Monty Python-esque heights.
Son, when I came here, all this was swamp - and a perfectly good Expressway. Everyone said it was daft to build an expansion to the Expressway on a swamp, but I build it just the same, just to show ‘em. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second expansion. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That partially collapsed, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up!
I’m glad I’m moving to Pasco, at least in this case - I’ll never have a need to drive on that deathtrap.
Jefe wrote:
What a mess. But just wait until our very own Highway 54 goes under the bulldozer in the next few months.
Lanes shifted about… The ramps at I-75 being rebuilt from the ground up…
Joy!
Posted on 23-Nov-04 at 1:14 pm | Permalink
AddledOne wrote:
I knew this would happen just as I was moving in. It seems construction follows wherever I move - I went to Orlando, and they tear up S.R. 50. I move to Houston, they tear up I-10. Typical.
Posted on 23-Nov-04 at 2:09 pm | Permalink
Darlene wrote:
Coudl have been worse — imagine they had decided to build a commuter train instead of a reversble lane? There is a dire need to get a train here in Tampa and yet if a debacle like this was attached to potential rail transit, they’d never think again about the possiblity of a commuter rial line.
But seeing it’s road– that’s all right. All we do is pave over, expand and pave over again…
Posted on 24-Nov-04 at 12:09 am | Permalink
Erky wrote:
Save this post. It’s the only time I have ever heard or seen anyone say “Glad I am moving to Pasco County!”
Posted on 24-Nov-04 at 1:30 am | Permalink
AddledOne wrote:
This from a man moving to a town that is so proud of it’s Golden Corral, they put it on the front page of the city’s web site.
Posted on 24-Nov-04 at 9:17 am | Permalink
Heather wrote:
I’m glad I moved to Pasco county lol But then again I lived in Seffner before that so anything was a step up from there.
Posted on 24-Nov-04 at 1:29 pm | Permalink
Erky wrote:
That Golden Corral is probably really good or something. And make no mistake, I never said I was “glad” to be moving there. Were you “glad” to move to Houston?
Posted on 24-Nov-04 at 7:02 pm | Permalink