Perry County Tribune:
Look At That Newly Paved Road
This article, written by Ben Carpenter, was first published in The Perry County Tribune on February 5, 2020.
Last Thursday when I came into New Lexington I joined a line of other travelers in waited to get through a paving project on Broadway.
As I sat there I thought to myself, “This is awesome, another road in Perry County is getting repaved, and it’s always a joy to travel on a nice smooth road.”
Then after a couple calls from people complaining about the ridiculous delays in New Lexington, I began to wonder that maybe everyone did not share my enjoyment for seeing paving projects take place. And that night I saw several seething negative comments on social media. It made me wonder if most people understood that the reoccurring paving was necessary to provide those nice smooth roads that make transportation so easy for us.
To start with, your County Commissioners have nothing to do with any paving projects. We don’t determine where they are or when they start, and we don’t fund them. State roads are paid for through ODOT. As I see it, every person in Ohio that pays taxes, gets to help fund all our State road paving projects in Perry County. However, all Perry County residents also have to help fund paving projects in every other corner of the state as well. So whenever we can bring those State Improvement dollars to Perry County I see it as a win.
Our County Engineer is responsible for maintaining all our County roads through the funds that he receives through state and federal sources. Perry County general revenue money is not used to pave roads.
The other thing that I have become aware of is that far too often the men and women working on those paving crews are verbally assaulted on a regular basis for “blocking traffic.” These people are out there working in the hot summer sun, while standing over even hotter asphalt, simply doing their job to the best of their ability. Shouting profanities or speeding through a construction zone in not only against the law, it is dangerous and can be life threatening to those men and women working.
So, the next time you get to sit and wait to get through a construction zone, in the comfort of your climate controlled car, while enjoying the luxury of driving to your job or other destination, ponder this thought:
Happiness comes when we stop complaining about the troubles we have and offer thanks for all the troubles we don’t have.
