This is My World

So, I’ve noticed they’re actually fixing Indiana Highway 145.  It’s about time.  I guess the patches they put down didn’t work.  So now they are tearing the whole road up and repaving it.  Hopefully, they’ll do it right.   It should be nice when they are finished.  In the meantime, we are dealing with a lot of road closures and having to stop at least 20 minutes every time we go somewhere.

Earlier I had written about the “de-construction of Hwy 145.”  First I would like to comment that I had a steroid injection in my back today.  It hurts very much bad.  We went to Wal-mart in Tell City to get fishing licenses today.  I used one of those electric wheelchairs.  It worked great.  Thanks Wal-mart.

I noticed today that on the way to Tell City Hwy 145 wasn’t all that bad.  It had a few bumps but we took it slow and I could handle it. The problem I had was the highway on the way home.   Apparently, the northbound lane is the worst.  At speeds much lower than the speed limit I was sitting in the passenger seat in tears.  When we turned onto the county road I live on, I noticed it was significantly smoother than the state highway we used to get to it.  When I got home, I could barely sit up and I’m still having problems with it.

After laying down for a while I managed to look at my local paper online at perrycountynews.com.  There was an article about what county roads would be fixed this year.  On the list was the county road that I live on.  My motto has always been “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  However, regular maintenance is necessary to keep county roads in good condition.  For the most part Perry County is good at keeping up with the maintenance on county roads.

My issue is if Perry County can keep its county roads smooth and drivable, why can’t the state of Indiana keep Hwy 145 drivable.  Right now that highway is tearing up the suspension on my vehicle and making my back hurt worse.  I think the state of Indiana needs to take a lesson from Perry County.

Indiana State Highway 145 starts at state Highway 37, runs through Bristow, and on past Interstate 64.  Early this spring Indiana state highway workers have started “patching holes” on a section of Hwy 145 that runs from Hwy 37 to Bristow.  Now it is more difficult to drive on than when they started.

There were parts of this road that were starting to sink.  While driving it felt as though you were driving over a smooth dip.  Usually, these spots are normally caused by water that runs under the road.  Basically, Hwy 145 doesn’t have proper drainage to prevent it from falling apart.

The state’s answer to this problem was to bust up the existing pavement in a shape of a square where these spots were and put down new black top.  This is a common solution to this problem.  Residents in the area are accustomed to having road construction every summer.  However, this year in an effort to conserve money the crew did not use enough blacktop to fill the holes they made. 

There are areas of this highway where motorists feel a sudden drop followed by a sudden bump on the other side of the new pavement.  These squares of new pavement take up a full traffic lane and are as long as they are wide.  Some of the areas of new pavement are 3 or more inches below the level of existing pavement.  If a passenger is experiencing any back pain or nausea, the roughness of the highway will make their condition worse. 

What can be done about this? Many residents are unsure who to contact in order to complain or ask questions.  However, many people in the area know the issue of proper water drainage needs to be addressed before a permanent solution can be accomplished.