No surprise Rough Road Tour lives up to its name

Dozens of people got on a bus the other day for a trip around La Crosse County to find out just what conditions our roads are in. To no one’s surprise, they found our roads are in really bad shape. They probably didn’t need to get on the bus to figure that out. It was really more of a demonstration to bring attention to our rough roads and to plead for more state money to fix them. The trip, dubbed the Rough Road Tour, was organized by the Transportation Development Association, one of six planned across Wisconsin. It is no surprise that those on board found our roads to be in poor shape. But we did learn that buses in the West Salem school district are seeing bent rimis, shattered glass and mirrors flying off when they carry the kids over all those potholes. But still there are no plnas to provide more money for roads. La Crosse County maintains 282 miles of road, and more than 50% of those roads are in need of improvement. Some, like the city of La Crosse, are taking matters into their own hands, paying to fix state highways that Madison will not. We didn’t need this tour to know our roads are bad, but it was a stark reminder of just how bad they are, and how far we are from being able to fix them.