Local Governments Reduce Spending on Highways by 5% | Road Maintenance
Some tout the government cutting its spending habits as a good sign of things to come. However, when local government slashes the amount it spends on highways by nearly 5 percent could cause chaos when it comes to the state of our roads and their maintenance.
With many local governments answering the call to reduce spending by allocating some of those cuts towards highways and road ways, there is no surprise that road maintenance projects will be slowed down incredibly, if not ceased flat out.
While road maintenance may not be looked at as being glamorous, it is crucial. Though, there is fear that within the outcome of this reduction in spending on highways is a failure to realize the socio-economic benefits of having well-maintained roads and highways, mostly due to the fact that road maintenance is often times looked at as being a desirable expenditure rather than an one of the more essential things for a government to spend money on.
One of the often overlooked points when it comes to spending the money on road maintenance is the fact that well-maintained roads are not only safer than their unmaintained counterparts, but a well-oiled and well run road network will end up costing the government far less money in the long run, as small upkeeps
cost less than total rebuilds once a road has reached a level where simple maintenance jobs will not work any longer.
In the end, it just makes good financial sense for a government looking to reduce its spending on highways and roads to invest in simple, planned and cost effective fixes, rather than hold off of road maintenance and end up needing to pay for expensive emergency fixes such as the short-term solution of patch and mend.
Produced by Tstar-Linemarking
