City should do the project right

Not long ago the City was telling us it needed money to improve our streets. The City says intersections needed to be put in with concrete because of the added stress of traffic, most particularly from large trucks.

Not being specifically schooled in this science, but as a common sense individual who has observed blacktop and concrete under traffic usage, I agree with this stand and feel that the City should be trying to make this happen.

Now enter the M Street project of going under the railroad tracks crossing M. Noting that there will be a stoplight at the corner of M and 4th streets, which is at the bottom of the new M Street trench, we see that the paving chosen for this area is blacktop.

So based on the City's assertion that concrete is better at a level intersection, doesn't it make sense to anyone other than me that it would be more critical on a downward sloping stop where the forces are much greater?

Now would be the time to install that concrete with the projected close of this intersection, which would allow the concrete to cure more with less traffic and the project would get closer to being finished.

If money is the issue, then why was the project started in the first place if it isn't going to be done right? Too many City staff and officials in the past and present only worry about today's Band-Aid fixes so they can look good. Not enough are committed to the future. Most said and still say they are, but their future outlook is really only a few years out, if that much.

Just my two cents worth.

– Frank Lonergan

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