The hurrier I go, the behinder I get. That old saying pretty much sums up progress in repairing our nation’s roads and bridges.It seems like no matter how much we spend, we can’t get ahead.

The federal government has dumped millions of dollars into resurfacing our highways, as have the individual states on roads under their jurisdiction, and likewise, towns and cities. It’s frustrating to see so much of our infrastructure in such a sad state of disrepair, and it’s discouraging to even think about how much it would take to put everything in A-1 shape. Truthfully, we’ll never see it happen.  Our dangerous bridges are another story — a bit frightening.

If you’re like us, you drive over some of the more heavily traveled roads in our neck of the woods and wonder if they are even on the list for scheduled repair. Often it appears they’ve been forgotten completely, or that there just hasn’t been enough money in the budget every time they’ve worked their way to the top of the priority list. We can’t even remember the last time some of the really rough sections of road were smooth. One spot comes to mind immediately:  Route One in front of the Two Bridges Jail entrance in Wiscasset, where cars either hug the center line or drive with two wheels in the breakdown lane in order to avoid the washboard effect. And how about the section of Route One in Brunswick which runs along the river as you pass through the city and pick up the highway on either side? Both have needed resurfacing for years! As for potholes in our neck of the woods, we’ve managed to find most of them several times (talk about not remembering where they are!) and our car has paid the price.Thankfully the frost is out of the ground now and some of these potholes can be/will be filled.

We sound unappreciative, which is not really the case. When we drive across a newly paved road or section, it’s just like Christmas, and we’ve been fortunate, at least here in Maine, to have had many of our highways and side roads repaved this past year. Most of us are already anticipating the opening of the overpass in Bath, having watched the progress weekly, and impressed that it has been completed ahead of schedule. We must say it was refreshing to see the crew working when we’ve passed by. Must have something to do with the fact that it’s a private contractor and they’re not state/federal employees who often give the impression that half of them are working and the other half are supervising.

Enough complaining. We live in Maine, where weather takes its toll. If we want nice, smooth super-highways, we can find them elsewhere. Guess for now we’ll stick around here where we’ve something to grumble about.