The McHenry County Conservation District is finally going to spend some of its treasure chest on something that would actually be useful and available to many adults and children on a regular basis. Imagine that!
A bicycle path is proposed from Crystal Lake to Woodstock. This is definitely better than the current scheme of transportation. As it is now, to get from one community to the other, you have the choices of Metra and Pace Bus Route 808 (very limited schedule). Many would bike the ten miles and enjoy it. Many might even commute to work, whereas now bicyclists must risk their lives on U.S. 14 or Country Club Road, neither of which is safe for bicycling, in spite of the Illinois Rules of the Road.
I shuddered when I read the price tag on the first two-mile stretch, which may be from Crystal Lake to MCC. Would you believe $700,000. What are they going to do? Build a 4-lane highway with rest areas and cloverleaf interchanges?
Can you imagine a $350,000/mile bike path? What in the world could possibly cost $350,000 per mile???
What is a bike path? A strip of ground about eight feet wide with a thin layer of asphalt. Hopefully, no gravel haulers will be taking short-cuts, so a heavy paving job is not needed. But $350,000 per mile?
Citizens had better get ready to look at the fine print and see just where the pork barrel fell over the pick-up truck!
How long will this take? Until Fall 2009? Come on, folks. You could get really busy and have it done by August 2008.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
4 comments:
maybe land acquisition is part of the cost? the land is not just given to them, they have to buy it. paving, surveying, and many other things can contribute to the cost. consider everything before questioning it. i bet the pork barrel fell off and landed on your head.
Land clearing, engineering, digging, filling with stone, compacting stone, laying asphalt. That price is reasonable. it's for a whole mile, not a foot!
Frank blabbed- "The section of the Illinois Vehicle Code will be posted." I still have yet to see this code the you are so fond of. Find it already or admit that you were wrong.
There are other,safer, routes to C.L. than the two cited. They are not any longer either. The big problem with bike paths is that once in place some jerk (anybody we know?) will propose citing cyclists using the roadways. Oh, and nobody clears the snow from them so they can be used year round. I suppose we need an ordinance for that too.
Post a Comment