Letter: Construction is done on roads that do not need the fix

In the past couple of years, up to the present, we have seen massive highway, road and pipeline construction all over Utah. In fact, Utah, Davis and Wasatch Counties have been so torn up almost continuously, that the traffic congestion has been terrible for months. We are seeing perfectly good thick cement roads being completely demolished and trucked away that were only built a few years ago. This has to be costing many millions of dollars.

Is it only me, or does this seem very strange indeed since our nation has $16 trillion of debt and total debt and unfunded obligations of more than $134 trillion? I guess this is all part of the Obama-Democratic "stimulus" program … but what are our politicians thinking? How can this be good in the long-run?

Our roads were already pretty nice to begin with … far better than the streets in most countries around the world. It is wonderful to have good roads, but if we can't afford them, which we absolutely cannot now, why are we doing this? It is extremely wasteful and irresponsible. The projects provide temporary jobs for some workers, but in the long term, nice roads really don't contribute much to the GDP or growth of our country.

We are enjoying these luxuries ourselves now, and piling the massive cost of it on the backs of our children and grandchildren down the road (pardon the pun). Great plan. Is there no sanity left in the world? Or has everyone lost their practical minds?

James Carlyle Green

Heber City