I woke up this morning around 6 am to the sound of the ground shaking. No, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was construction. Outside my gated community where I’m temporarily staying, road crews have torn up the streets to

Construct full roadway improvements including storm drain, curb and gutter, sidewalk, street lights, pavement, pavement markings, and traffic signals.

Current Status – Construction

Construction Schedule – December 2008 to November 2009.

Quote from RTC’s construction map

The street used to look like this:

Now, it looks like this:

Ok, ok, ok, you got me. That’s a photo in Whistler British Columbia, Canada. But, honestly, I don’t know how to get out of this fortress by walking and I’m too short to take a photo over the backyard wall. So we’ll have to do with a similar photo. Just imagine only two lanes of traffic, with dirt, dust, and bright yellow monstrosities minus the green mountains and add stucco houses and gated communities.

The point is, what the hell was wrong with the street BEFORE? This has been going on since December?

It’s this kind of needless spending that puts the city deeper into debt and farther away from its intended goal of building a community. There’s no community out here – it’s a barren wasteland where the inhabitants could be tomorrow’s mountain lion’s lunch.

And this is going until November.

Las Vegas, what the hell?!

As editor-in-chief of EcoStreets, I take the privelege of writing one personal rant every couple of months. It won’t be frequent, I promise.

Related posts:

1. Counting Down Road Projects
2. Five injured in school bus crash