Wednesday, September 20, 2006

ALDOT Frustration

I'm now a stay-at-home mom. Yesterday, I treated myself to lunch while my daughter was in Children's Day Out. On my way home, I noticed something that I didn't notice on the way to lunch. There were road crews repaving Argo-Margaret Road. That would have been great if they hadn't already done it less than three weeks ago. (I know that it was less than three weeks ago because my daughter started CDO after Labor Day, and it was then that they were doing the work the first time.) Except for the lines being painted wrong (three solid lines instead of two), it seemed perfect to me. Why were they doing it again? This appeared to be a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.

Then, as I sat waiting for my husband to get home at his usual 5:30pm, the phone rang. It was my husband. Traffic was backed up all the way to I-59 and down U.S. Hwy. 11. They were still doing road work during afternoon rush hour traffic, and there are no viable alternate routes for those needing to travel along Argo-Margaret Road. None of the residents had been notified of the roadwork, either, so even if there was an alternate route, we wouldn't have known to take it. What if there had been an emergency?!

I tried calling ALDOT to complain. After reaching at least six different offices, I gave up. Nobody even knew what I was talking about. So I got mad, and then I got even. I've just finished sending out seven paper letters to seven individuals: my state representative, my state senator, the guy who will soon be my state senator, the Birmingham News, and (just for fun) my congressman and both senators. Since all of them are Reeps, I am considering sending additional letters to the Alabama Dems as potential fodder. Maybe I can get someone to talk to me, now.