To Whom It May Concern

Roads Built By Invalids

I enjoy driving. I do not enjoy running into crappy roads with construction everywhere. Nebraska has to have the worst roads of any of the 50 states. In fact, I would say that they are so bad, that just on the basis of road condition alone Nebraska qualifies as a third world country. It really wouldn't surprise me to learn that there are more miles of road under construction in Nebraska than miles of road not being worked on. There are now more orange construction cones around Nebraska than there are people living here.

Our roads are the laughing stock of the nation. The leading truck fleet magazine, Heavy Duty Trucking, has consistently rated Nebraska at the bottom of two categories, year after year, Road Quality and Road Department Quality. Road Quality refers to the actual condition of the road itself, this past year Nebraska placed 49th on overall road quality, just ahead of South Dakota. But there is no stopping our road department, which placed dead last, at 50th place. With such excellence in road construction, you can bet that road quality will also achieve the same outstanding performance and surpass South Dakota sometime soon for last place. Even the advertisements in Heavy Duty Trucking poke fun at Nebraska, mainly I-80, our lone interstate, and it's endless supply of potholes and shoddy maintenance. One tire manufacturer put it like this "You best have the highest quality tires possible in western Nebraska on Interstate 80". You know it's bad when they make fun of you to make money.

Probably the most ridiculous aspect of this is that the worst sections of I-80 are the newest sections. They spent umpteen millions of dollars putting in brand new cement sections of road on the interstate in western Nebraska, and for some reason the drunken state workers put in expansion cracks in the cement that are more like speed bumps. It's sure a great time driving along with the continual THUD THUD THUD THUD for about 70 miles, I guess on the bright side, there is no chance in hell you would ever fall asleep. Chiropractor anyone? You will need a good one after a cross state journey here.

If a road project is supposed to be completed in a certain amount of time, like NORMAL projects, you can bet that it will take twice as long in Nebraska, at least, and go waayyyyyyyyyy overbudget. Not only that, but by the time they finish the road they are working on, it's usually outdated and already needing more work just to get it up to speed. Nebraska's road department slogan goes as follows: "Building Yesterday's Roads Today, And Not Getting Them Done Till Tomorrow".

Driving violation fines are doubled in construction zones in Nebraska. Yet there is no governing body that seems to keep track of what is or is not considered a construction zone. Seems that any joe smoe state worker can put up an orange construction sign, and they do. You will find areas where 50 miles or more is considered a "construction zone" and yet they are only working on 500 foot of road at a time, talk about a misuse of intended purpose for a law. It can be the middle of the night on a Sunday with not a construction worker in site, on a road that has no evidence of construction at all, no machinery, no cones, just a little 12" by 4" orange sign under the speed limit sign, but you get pulled over for going 10 mph above the posted limit, and you are hit with a 220 dollar fine. I'd like to know the wisdom behind that. I guess they have to come up with some way to pay for these projects that aren't getting done, right?

I don't want to be completely negative about Nebraska's roads though, that wouldn't be fair, there is some good to all of this. When I've been out of state for awhile, and the smooth roads of Iowa or Kansas suddenly turn bumpy and everything falls off my dash and my soda falls out of my cup holder, and I see the friendly orange cones lining up along side the road like parade spectators, I can smile because I know I'm back in Nebraska, and how nice it is to be home. Perhaps they can add mechanical arms to the cones that wave hello to me and a painted on smiley face to welcome me home? Also, I'm certain that suspension and alignment repair shops make bookoo bucks in Nebraska doing repairs on vehicles damaged by our horrible roads, just an example of our roads department promoting local industry around the state, how helpful of them!!!

All in all this probably won't change any time soon, unless somehow every person in upper management within Nebraska's roads department is fired immediately. Someone call the Governor, maybe he has some unknown authority to do this? God I hope so, my back hurts...