I may be wrong, but I don't think Red meant it was too hot when he used the word climate.:wink: How do we get these smart people in office so they can make changes to attract more business? The vast majority of people in the state are poor and only vote for politicians who promise to keep giving them government assistance.
The DOTD secretary yeaterday withdrew his request to the federal DOT to investigate the possible tolling of I-10 and I-12 after the governor's office failed to support the idea.
I don't like Blanco. If you are going to do something, do it. People will hee and haw without knowing what is going on, sometimes our leaders really should be our leaders. Not that tolling the interstates sounded like a great idea. I'd look into charging shipping companies more for using our highways since the majority of wear comes from large trucks. I'd also like to think about keeping larger trucks out of the fast lane and making the fast lane more durable to wear. Construction practices can always be improved, but that is a problem that plagues all roadways. The climate of Louisiana and the nature of the foundation of our roadways (unstable ground) provides a natural obstacle to durable pavement, but Louisiana doesn't have to worry about the freeze-thaw cycles that colder areas do. Additional funding would be nice also and hopefully Secretary Bradberry can pull an Emmert and get things to change for the better.
If you keep all the heavy trucks in the slow lane, wouldn't you need to make the slow lane more durable? Seems like there is already more damage to the right lane than the left.
The fast lane would last forever and doesn't have to be as flexible; possibly concrete could do the job. Then make the other lanes asphalt. Really it was just a novice idea I had, I haven't actually researched it.
