travel

No sooner is the gravel down...

When the political party in power tries to get another term by spending money on public works as an election approaches and keeps the sign painters busy letting everybody know about it, it has worked better in theory than in practice the last several election cycles. People along the roads that are improved, however, generally approve of the work even if not the government that does it.

Sometimes, however, just as soon as the gravel is down but before the drains are in or the blacktop is on, somebody decides that the incomplete road now can be used --- torn up and left in worse than its previous condition, on occasion --- and interposes his or her business convenience between the neighborhood's hopes for a better road and the government's intentions to provide one.

Photos by Eric Jackson