Vermont Pavement conditions
Occasionally folks ask about the road conditions while traveling. I stumbled across a couple of Vermont web sites that might prove of interest: VT MAP Conditions explained
Forum Discussion
I read recently that Vermont has more unpaved road/miles than any State in the country (excluding Alaska). Can someone verify this?
Gasoline taxes:
....looking again at gasoline taxes at retail per gallon/litre, the US appears to continue to fall behind nearly every country on Earth (with exception of a handful of "oil producing/export countries").
Currently, the US "Highway Trust Fund" is headed for bankruptcy (a metaphor).
Our "Think Tank" made up of members from several countries (Sleepy, being one of the founding members) has discussed this situation at length over the years. Allocating retail fuel taxes to rebuilding road infrastructure is approached in different ways by each country; however, allocating NO money to roads and bridges infrastructure (whichever way the State chooses to acquire the tax money) will rear up and bite you in the a$$, placing the country in a position of "...no possible way to ever catch up" (ie. where only interstates and bypasses are maintained, and all other roads and bridges/tunnels decay into catastrophic condition).
We are learning this lesson in Quebec currently (ie. bridges, overpasses and tunnels are collapsing virtually every year, sometimes killing people; roads in such bas shape, they are costing the average motorist $2000 each a year in unseen but cumulative damage to every vehicle on the road {there is no free lunch! Pay taxes for good roads, or pay enormously for vehicle repairs through the teeth} ).
Gasoline taxes:
....looking again at gasoline taxes at retail per gallon/litre, the US appears to continue to fall behind nearly every country on Earth (with exception of a handful of "oil producing/export countries").
Currently, the US "Highway Trust Fund" is headed for bankruptcy (a metaphor).
Our "Think Tank" made up of members from several countries (Sleepy, being one of the founding members) has discussed this situation at length over the years. Allocating retail fuel taxes to rebuilding road infrastructure is approached in different ways by each country; however, allocating NO money to roads and bridges infrastructure (whichever way the State chooses to acquire the tax money) will rear up and bite you in the a$$, placing the country in a position of "...no possible way to ever catch up" (ie. where only interstates and bypasses are maintained, and all other roads and bridges/tunnels decay into catastrophic condition).
We are learning this lesson in Quebec currently (ie. bridges, overpasses and tunnels are collapsing virtually every year, sometimes killing people; roads in such bas shape, they are costing the average motorist $2000 each a year in unseen but cumulative damage to every vehicle on the road {there is no free lunch! Pay taxes for good roads, or pay enormously for vehicle repairs through the teeth} ).
