Roads suck

Why is it that roads in Germany are so good and roads in the Northeast of the US are so bad? You can't run that "its the climate" merde by me on this one, as German weather is worse. Of course the Germans complain about potholes too, but it strikes me that the only Germans that have seen real potholes are the ones that made a trip East in the early 1940's.

Seriously, even the repairs made to the roads here are pathetic. Where does our money go? Does everyone (in the road repair business) cheat on the amount of fill going into repairs? Does the Mass Highways staff pave their own driveways early in the orning when nobody is looking? How is it possible?

For all my ass-aching about the Massachusetts roads, I spent the weekend down in New York City. 'Nuff said. You KNOW that someone is stealing there -- probably with lots of vowels in their surnames, too. OR perhaps a "Mc". Reminds me of London: whenever there is a hideous traffic jam in London, it is almost always the result of road works. When you eventually get to the point of congestion, there would inevitably be a few machines lying around with "Murphy" painted on the sides. And absolutely nobody to be seen engaged in anything that remotely resembles labor. Sort of like Massachusetts cops on "work detail." What the hell is that, exactly? I mean, they get paid overtime (or double time) to man the position, and then they stand there chatting with the people who are meant to be expeditiously completing our much-needed road works. OR they sit in their cruisers eating Dunkin Donuts. And that is NOT a cliche. Meanwhile, the tax payer gets fleeced for substandard work and overtime for the plod.

Jeez.