New Bridge Should Have Been Constructed With Growth in Mind

As one of the many residents along Shepherd Road who endured several long months of detour around the bridge construction over Poley Creek, I congratulate the contractor and crew who built such a nice structure. I also would like to thank Sheriff Grady Judd and all the traffic-control officers who were posted at the intersection of Lunn and Ewell roads for aiding the flow of traffic at that busy intersection during this time.

Next, I want to question the genius or geniuses that threw millions of tax dollars right down the commode and then flushed it. Is it only apparent to the users of Shepherd Road, as well as those who travel Ewell Road, that, by necessity, both roads will require widening to four lanes within a decade?

Would it not have been prudent to plan for this action before construction was begun? Would it not have been less expensive to build this bridge with growth in mind? A two-lane bridge will be fine for a few years, but one has only to imagine the future growth planned for this area and along County Line Road.

The people of Polk County have been paying an additional 5 cents per gallon of gasoline for many years now, and it seems I've seen this money being squandered time and time again. Our county commissioners need to wake up and actually begin thinking with some vision before approving huge expenditures of our tax dollars by our county manger and his Public Works Department that are so obviously shortsighted.

DALE G. FAUX

Mulberry