It never fails to amaze me how wasteful the government can be. This morning, I drove over the newly reconstructed bridge on Indian Field Raod at exit 4 on the Connecticut Turnpike. The bridge has been under construction since late 2008. The original contract cost is listed as $6,976,685.50 on the website of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The new bridge is really something. It has what appears to be five lanes for traffic and a pedestrian walkway. There are also traffic lights installed at each end of the bridge.
While all that sounds great, here is the problem. Indian Field Road has two lanes -- one in each direction. That means that the road goes from two lanes to five on the bridge and then back to two. Also, immediately after leaving the north side of the bridge, the road goes over a particularly narrow bridge across the Metro North railroad tracks. The bridge over the railroad also has serious weight restrictions which keeps most large trucks from using it. So, instead of the State bulding a bridge that had two lanes like the road or three lanes to allow for a turning lane at each new light, it paid for the construction of a five lane raod that is completely unnecessary. One has to wonder how much of the seven million dollar cost could have been saved if a more appropriate bridge had been built.
I will never understand why so many people trust the government to do anything right when it always seems to get things wrong.
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