I shouldn’t be surprised. Hell, nobody should be. Between gas prices and everything else, inflation has deflated everyone’s bank accounts. Yet, in the midst of all of it, somebody has a plan to charge for the privilege of (but, not guaranteed to be) “fast lanes” on the highway systems of Chicagoland.

This city and state have gone so far over the edge of budget destruction for as long as I’ve been alive, but they keep finding ways to put their hands in our pockets. Go ahead and build the pay for use fast lanes, then let’s sit back and count the days until they decide to lease them out to a private business who jacks up the price to an even more obscene level. Why stop at parking meters and the skyway? Sign off on another 99 year lease for pennies, compared to what they’ll make, and we’ll lose.

Yeah, I know. I’m getting ahead of myself. So, what? If I didn’t say it, others would still be thinking about it. Besides, where is all the money we pay out that’s specifically for the roads and highways? It’s found its way into someone else’s pocket, of course. Right after they decide to tear up every other street in the neighborhood, at the same damn time.

When was the last time you drove thru a construction zone where they were actually doing some work and not just standing around BSing with their co-workers, or just simply not being around at all? We pay for them to do a job that takes 4 times as long as it should because nobody can figure out how to fix something in a timely manner. They’re not suffering for it, but the rest of us sure are. And, even if they complete a project in a respectable amount of time, the road ends up looking like a demented jigsaw puzzle because one department can’t communicate with another, and 5 minutes after completion, that other department is tearing up a section of perfectly repaved roadway!

The day I can leave this place for warmer weather and less bullshit, it will be amazing. The only problem, is finding where they might be …