Comments (11)

• ggg

  looks like wyoming got more money than pennsylvania. that makes perfect sense.

  Published: May 16, 2009 10:05 AM

• redshirt

  ggg, I think Allegheny county is in the $100M+ category and Phila with surrounding counties $200M+. I'm not sure why some States are almost devoid of any "stimulus". Maybe they are slow to report?

  The only good may be that these were useful projects languishing because Fed gov was sucking up so much tax money that there was nothing left locally to put into these projects. The projects may on net prove to enhance local commerce?

  Of course, they'll probably find thousands of ways to waste the money.

  Published: May 16, 2009 10:16 AM

• Deefburger

  Holy Poo! I live in Sonoma Co. Ca.

  Fort Ross road is 30mi from Civilization!!! There are only ranches and redwoods out there. It's a one-lane winding mountain road that bridges the one-horse town of Fort Ross with the two-horse town of Cazadero. The most use it gets is in the summer when the tourists want to see trees and don't use Highway 1 on the coast to get to Fort Ross.

  There is maybe a couple hundred people living along the the entire 8mi of it and all of them have 4wd. It's really a long driveway for the residents!

  Highway 1 along there is always in need of work. It's a cliff hugger and needs repair every year. But I guess they figure the bankrupt state money will fix that.

  Published: May 16, 2009 10:27 AM

• Eric H

  It's instructive to look at this map and then look at a map of the 2008 election results by county, like this one from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/election/uscounties.html

  Published: May 16, 2009 11:32 AM

• KO

  Looking over both maps, it makes it pretty evident what is going on. I still can't believe Allegheny County is PA is going to get $100 million +. All that for an area that shows unemployment at 6.8%. Shows you what the stimulus really is.

  Published: May 16, 2009 1:00 PM

• Daniel

  What is there in northeast Nevada that requires $10-100 million?

  Published: May 16, 2009 1:16 PM

• Eric H

  How fortunate we are that infrastructure and economic collapse occurred simultaneously--we get the chance to cure both ills at the same time, with the same money!
  

  Published: May 16, 2009 1:34 PM

• Greg V.

  Allegheny Co. PA is home to Pittsburgh. Our roads are ALWAYS horrendous, but that can be blamed on PennDOT. I don't think I've ever been able to drive anywhere in the state without going through at least one construction zone for as long as I can remember.

  These guys are the epitome of waste and they'll manage to string out these projects for years, doing just enough that things will fall apart in a year and they'll be back out there. Disgusting.

  Published: May 16, 2009 3:44 PM

• matskralc

  In addition to what Greg said, the PA Turnpike Commission in particular is fairly well-known by locals as a hotbed of cronyism.

  As far as the perpetual motion device that is PennDOT in general, Greg is right on. I-79 is constantly being "worked" on. And of course I laughed when the little map showed money going for concrete patching on I-79 in Washington County (south of Allegheny).

  Published: May 16, 2009 10:30 PM

• Ralph Fucetola JD

  lol - "How fortunate we are that infrastructure and economic collapse occurred simultaneously--we get the chance to cure both ills at the same time, with the same money!"

  Or it shows that the govt can't keep the roads repaired... nor keep money honest... nor protect our rights... nor... well, you get it.

  PS - As Mises.org readers know, Prof. Walter Block just wrote a book about roads on the free market: The Privatization of Roads

  http://mises.org/daily/3416

  And this earlier piece on Free Market Roads -
  http://mises.org/journals/jls/3_2/3_2_7.pdf

  So if the state can't even maintain the roads, what excuse does any freedom-lover have for supporting even a "minarchist" state?

  Published: May 17, 2009 9:33 AM

• Peter S.

  Re Eric H: they do seem to look vaguely similar - did anybody do a correlation of the results? It would be funny if those two groups of data would fit.

  Published: May 17, 2009 5:48 PM