August 15, 2011
Monday

I would like to express my extreme displeasure and disappointment in which ever government entity should be using our tax dollars to maintain the roadways on this island. I have lived in Ketchikan for only 3 years, but I have seen some roads get completely ignored and some get paved, repaved, and repaved again. I really can't make heads or tails of how the road maintenance is ranked with importance. I originally thought it was tourist based, but looking at what gets paved, that is wrong.

My beef is with the section of road between the troopers post and Sunset Dr. I live in town and must go through this section to trailer my boat to Knudson. Everyone reading this knows there is a dip in the turn that will send any boat flying if you hit it going over 30 mph. You all also know that the road condition is extremely dangerous for passing cars or walkers. The section is bad enough to have had a "rough road" sign placed there for several months now by somebody who knows it needs repair.

I now have $200 worth of parts to buy for my kicker motor because of this dip that has been ignored by road maintenance for at least the 3 years I have lived here. Every time I hit that dip, slow or not, my kicker motor bounces like a 4 year old on Christmas morning and has now broken the tilt bracket. I am sure there will be no response from any government figure to offer payment for that.

This probably wouldn't tick me off as bad if we hadn't been dealing with road crews for the insanely long 2 seasons it has taken to complete the 3 mile section just north that wasn't nearly as bad as the sections both south and north of it. Maybe some of the money gained from all of the speeding citations given in that 3 mile section when no workers are present could be thrown into that dip as a filler, and then covered with the government favored chipseal so our vehicles could get a little more tar splatter on them. And no, I have not been stopped for speeding ever on this island.

I don't know which portion of this islands government is supposed to repair that disaster, I just wish they would take their cranium out of their rectum and catch up with reality. I think it goes without saying that most of us agree the roads here are less than adequate even for Alaska. However, if there is one road that should be in driveable condition, it should be the one that carries 90% of the daily traffic, and connects every small community on this island.

I am sure there will be a couple of readers pointing out the correct entity to take care of this, or the correct way to approach that entity. My opinion is, like it or not, if that entity hasn't taken care of that crap piled disaster of a road by now, then they don't care about being approached correctly or about the roads. I know I am not alone in this, and this probably isn't the first time discussing this issue. I gave myself 4 days to see if my mind would change about submitting this letter, but it didn't.

I have seen plenty of rediculous ways tax dollars are spent here, now I would like to see a beneficial one.

Harry Howard
Ketchikan, AK