The Roads

Dear State (which shall remain unnamed),

I want you to know that it is possible to build a bridge within a year. It’s possible to start and finish within twelve months. It is possible to finish the bridge before the metal beams you’re using to build it starts to rust. The rust is running down the new concrete. What good is a new bridge if it’s as old as the previous one by the time you’re finished? Please reach out to the state on your immediate East side for any tips.

I want you to know that there are roads around the country that are smooth. They do not have tolls, nor are the taxes ridiculous. It is possible to pave the roads every few years. It is possible to pave them with a substance that won’t start to waste away from the middle of the road. Instead, it wears down evenly.

To give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe some of your citizens have attached jackhammers to their front bumpers. And they may engage them as they travel down the roads. So maybe it isn’t your fault.

It’s possible to fix the on-ramp to a major highway within a month. The orange cones sat at each end of the ramp for months and months without any repairs being accomplished. We never saw any workers then it was finished. The orange cones disappeared. However, the potholes did not. The ramp looked the same one year later.

I don’t know what it is with you, but I know what it isn’t. It isn’t as good as it can be.

Bless your heart.

to the states that can’t build roads,
– Caleb