He's not even being a good Republican. No shoulders --> less pavement
--> less business for the road builders (major Republican sugar
daddies). And I'm sure, for the last reason that Robbie bulleted, he'd
curry no favor with the law enforcement / first responder community with
this (using the term loosely) "idea".
Feh; after this election cycle, it's nice to have some comic relief from
the political peanut (or is that just "nut"?) gallery.
On 2014/11/06 16:25, Robbie Webber wrote:
He should check with WisDOT before saying boneheaded things like that.
In addition to being convenient for bicyclists (although most
bicyclists would probably find most state roads less than optimal to
bike), there are a host of reasons that paving shoulders make sense:
* Paving shoulders makes roads last longer. The edge of the roadway
crumbles first, and it is better to have that edge be on the
shoulder than part of the lane that most users drive on.
* Snow and dead-animal storage
* "Recovery zone" when people start to drive off the road.
* Extra space for slow moving vehicles (besides bikes), such as farm
equipment, repair vehicles, public safety equiment, etc.
* A place to pull over for emergencies -- aka a breakdown lane -- or
if the cops are ticketing you.
And finally, it just doesn't cost all that much when you are already
building or repairing the road. The cost-benefit ratio is very high
for the added tiny expense.
I don't feel the slightest hesitancy in saying that Vos is just being
dumb. And it would be charitable to say he was being vindictive
against groups that he doesn't like. That would imply that he has
actually thought through his ideas, and I don't think he has.
Robbie Webber
Transportation Policy Analyst
608-263-9984 (o)
608-225-0002 (c)
[email protected]
All opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those
of my employer or any other group with which I am affiliated.
On Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Matthew Logan <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
So during a conference yesterday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos
floated some ideas on how to cut costs in the transportation
budget. One of them was to eliminate shoulders on state
highways. Of course, these are what bicyclists generally use.
http://www.wiseye.org/Programming/VideoArchive/EventDetail.aspx?evhdid=9332
[See 23:50 for the start of the transportation section]
--
Paul T. O'Leary
Chronic Nuisance
Madison, WI USA
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