Wisconsin Ranks No. 2 For Best Highways

[dgridley]

The April 2010 issue of Reader's Digest places Wisconsin second (behind Kansas) for the nation's best highways. The article is The Best, Worst, Deadliest Roads.. what's your take as a Wisconsinite?

[CindyLouWho]

Really? Wow! I bet they didn't drive through my county before deciding that. All the road repair is authorized by the County Board here and they don't hand out money easily unless their pockets are going to get lined a bit in the process...or so I've heard from several reliable sources anyhow.

One road near here was resurfaced about three years ago and has the worst potholes in it now! It's like driving on an obstacle course when you take that road! You can always tell that you are entering another county when you leave ours because the road magically turns smooth once you hit that county line!

[dgridley]

That sounds like crossing the Arkansas-Missouri border..

Originally Posted by CindyLouWho

Really? Wow! I bet they didn't drive through my county before deciding that. All the road repair is authorized by the County Board here and they don't hand out money easily unless their pockets are going to get lined a bit in the process...or so I've heard from several reliable sources anyhow.

One road near here was resurfaced about three years ago and has the worst potholes in it now! It's like driving on an obstacle course when you take that road! You can always tell that you are entering another county when you leave ours because the road magically turns smooth once you hit that county line!

[Blue Baboon]

Where did they get this from? I drive over some pretty bumpy areas on the way to work. That frost heaving and salt does a number on the roads. There's that sign outside Madison that says "Bumps Next 35 Miles." There is a lot of roads in need of repairs. It seems not that long ago we had decent roads, but I always said we made our road bumpy so the Illinois visitors would feel at home. We have roads as bumpy as theirs now.

There's sections of Hwy. 16 I drive on that are so bumpy that you can't go over the speed limit without throwing your tires out of alignment. Last year my husband had to replace his shocks from all the bumps in the roads.

[dgridley]

Here it is online:

List ranks best, deadliest U.S. roads - CNN.com

[Moosebreath]

I am not sure either about the ranking. I know the northern counties have to contend with a lot of heavy weather, and using salt, along with the freezing temps.Some states don't have the severe weather we have, so for Wisconsin to have good roads, that is a sign our county highway workers are doing their jobs With all the cutbacks, it wouldn't surprise me to see the roads everywhere start to fall apart.I get a little ticked when I see 3-snowflakes hit the ground and people start screaming for snowplows. People need to begin having better driving habits. .

[Blue Baboon]

Originally Posted by Moosebreath

II get a little ticked when I see 3-snowflakes hit the ground and people start screaming for snowplows. People need to begin having better driving habits. .

That would be me asking for salt trucks and plows. I have a 50 min. drive to work and it's not fun in bad weather. I prefer not to get into an accident or go off the road or end up dead because someone hit me. Sometimes no matter how careful you drive you can still end up in a ditch. I know, because it's happened to me twice where I lost control of my car in bad weather. No, I wasn't driving fast or stupid. Can't really do much when there's 6-8 inches of snow on the road and you're just following tire tracks in the dark. I've driven in a lot of scary snow storms when I was going to school and that's a 40 min. drive in good weather. Most of the driving was at night when you couldn't even see where the road was. They hardly ever close colleges for weather.

Yes, some people drive stupid in bad weather, but they drive stupid in good weather also. I'd rather have the roads clear and safer.

[Night]

Locally, they tear up all the roads that don't need to be fixed, but their solution for the crappy roads is to just buy a sign that says "rough road". Which sends the message that they are aware of the problem, but could care less.