Our Texas Department of Transportation, the federal government, the combination of the two or someone is out there lost in the Field of Dreams. You know, “If you build it … “
A bit ago I was driving down the I-10 East access road in Beaumont between Martin Luther King and Magnolia. Now this area is kind of old, and in some place run down, while in other places hookers ply their trade on the streets. That’s not to say the whole area is bad. Now one thing this area has in common with a lot of our fair city is the lack of sidewalks. Many areas here are not so pedestrian friendly.
So had I not been watching our local KFDM Channel 6 News a couple of weeks ago I would have been plumb bumfuzzled (slang: baffled)at seeing a bunch of Hispanic guys in fluorescent vests this afternoon doing prep work to install wheelchair curb ramps in these areas along the I-10 access road. This is, to remind you, an area where the probability of sidewalks being built and attached to those ramps is on a par with a Blue Norther in Hades.
Channel 6 Reporter Ashley Gaston aptly labeled “the on-ramps to nowhere” which are being built all over town. Ashley interviewed a fellow in a wheelchair who was understandably indignant that his wife had to push him around to where he needed to go in a certain spot. The same spot where a curb ramp without a sidewalk had been built.
Local TxDOT spokesman Marc Shepherd told Channel 6 that the federal government had all of this money and the state had to spend it on curb ramps. You know, if they’ve got the money honey we’ve got the time — to spend it. The figure for building these ramps to nowhere that was quoted in the story was $1.4 million to build 600 such structures in our so-called “Golden Triangle” of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange area. However, I added up the bucks on the state transportation department’s “Project Tracker” and found a total of well more than $5 million. Now I must point out here that I am neither a mathematician nor a highway engineer (Thank heavens for small favors). So I might not be reading the money portion of the state’s On-Ramp to Nowhere Project correctly. If you are a retired engineer and have time to figure it out, then click here. Just don’t e-mail me and tell me what you figured out, okay? Thanks.
Now I suppose someday the money might come along which will connect all those curb ramps to sidewalks. Of course, it is likely in the realm of Murphy’s Law and government that the sidewalks and ramps will somehow not match up and end up costing millions more than was anticipated. Oh but it is the thought that counts, eh?