Revolutionary roads

As written in the winter of 2020

Roads, the pulsing arteries of our cities, are the vital connectors allowing for moving quantities of humans and goods from one point to another, the important milestone and absolute necessity in claiming the spot amongst the most advanced countries. Roads that whole empires, the most glorious and illustrious cities, were built upon. Historically speaking, greatness and prosperity were always linked with solid, elaborate, and well-maintained infrastructure. Now, that almost sounds like a narrative of David Attenborough’s summary for a new Blue Planet special, and yet, if he came to Salem and many other places in the state of Massachusetts, he would have to start pondering whether the arteries of our pulsing cities represent that opening statement. He would have to wonder what happened in the glorious and illustrious Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It is no secret and actually pretty obvious that the condition of the roads is getting notably worse every year. I, like many others, drive to work every day, and so if this trend continues, the wheel-steering enthusiasts will need to adapt their beloved vehicles to the crumbling roads with continuous tracks as seen on bulldozers or tanks. It is true that in that scenario people would have to go to New Hampshire to have it installed because Massachusetts probably already regulates the use of continuous tracks anyway. The politicians and community leaders have the usual wallet-breaking answer to the pitiful shape of the roads in our communities—the never-ending lack of revenue to keep up with the maintenance of the intertwined system of the many roads. Is increasing the already almost infinite list of taxes we have the solution then? Or perhaps adding new ones to fill the gap, like the carbon tax, road tax, parking tax, rain tax, Netflix tax, and so on. There is always something that can be taxed after all. And most politicians are universally known masters at coming up with new taxes. States like Illinois, New Jersey, or New York have embarked on that path, and they are getting to a point when the very last thing to collect revenue on is oxygen and boldness. And of course, the bold folks will not be very fond of such draconian measures and will depart those states in multitudes. As a matter of fact, some sources claim that over 50% of all collected revenue goes to run the government itself with the strong army of bureaucrats and all the lucrative bonuses, health care plans, and pension funds. Therefore, I believe that raising taxes is not the answer; it has been done, and it just does not fix any problems anyway. Usually it makes them worse and the government even bigger. Because when it comes to solving a problem, all of a sudden there is an immediate need to increase the army of bureaucrats to fill the new departments and departments to oversee the newly created departments, and of course, a commission needs to be put in place to make sure that the new departments are not using too many ballpoint pens and toilet paper. Thus, it is my opinion that such simplistic solutions to fixing our deteriorating roads are preposterous and part of the problem. I drove on the roads in New Jersey or New York, and I cannot say that the condition would be of superb, mirror-like quality. On the contrary, it was just as bad! And since the government will never actually look to disband the oftentimes redundant and useless departments and get rid of the regulations and policies to actually save money and allow for flexibility, it is destined to be a “merry-go-round” type of answer over and over again. While the taxpayer is reaching deeper and deeper into the pockets every time the government comes around looking for some new and exciting way to elevate the mantra of greater good to new heights, the roads continue to crumble only to be patched up to crumble some more. Sadly, it is a story that keeps on repeating.

But what if we forget about the government for a moment and leave the bureaucrats at their mahogany desks chasing quotas on odd street numbers? What if we turn our troubled roads into some greater fun and keep our sanity! As a matter of fact, we could transform parts of the roads into playgrounds and launch weekend-long Grand Road Games. Considering that sooner or later some of the potholes will be big enough for taking a dip after rain fills them up, while other potholes could be used to play a skeeball with basketballs, or more adventure-seeking individuals could try to reenact the moon landing with all the craters scattered around. Not to mention the amusement park-style thrill and excitement of trying to avoid the potholes when driving, which is already pretty grotesque to watch on any given day. On top of all this fun, it would bring the community out, having a good, old blast together, building good neighborhood relationships, and enjoying the road circus. Then the roads would be truly pulsing, connecting people’s hearts through fun experiences, forgetting at least for a brief moment about the divisive problems we are facing with solutions far in sight. As a result, a great deal of tolerance and compassion could be forged upon the crumbling roads, possibly leading to some joint spiritual revival, something that no government can achieve. Now, that would be a hashtag worth sharing that even David Attenborough would not want to miss, albeit not to narrate but to be part of!