Am I being overly cynical when I think that the sudden enormous torrent of street repair being done around here which started a month or so ago is a last mad dash by local, county, and state governments to convince the voters that their tax money is being used for something other than paying the salaries of elected officials and their patronage armies?
Nope.
The Chicago Trib ran a story about a month ago or so detailing the cost of rebuilding I94 on the south side. The gov sent 500 mil ,taken from other road projects around the state, to pay for I94, nearly doubling this years expenditure to approx a billion dollars. Coupled with the feds diminished funds to the states, because of Katrina, this has been a lousy year for most road builders in Illinois. And I94 will not be finished this year so there will be more expenditures next year. This state has more fiscal problems than we are being led to believe.