City of Puyallup Road Construction

It’s amazing the amount of money we waste on road constuction.  Our system is setup so different cities get a certain amount for road construction.  Anything above and beyond the cost the city has the cover or sometimes they can get it from other federal programs etc.  From my research, most road construction isn’t really needed.  Cities use it because they have to.  It’s a use it or lose it system.  The City of Puyallup has several projects going on that are a complete waste of money and now we are starting to hear they can’t cover the extra costs.  Recently, they have been working on Highway 512.  I personally drive Highway 512 between Puyallup and Lakewood all the time and this is a good example of just blowing the money because they need to.  There is absolutly nothing wrong with the Highway.  The other City of Puyallup road construction project we are hearing about is on 39th avenue.  There is no dought this area is congested (it always has been and will continue to be) but this project wasn’t really necessary.  First this road construction project in Puyallup has been going on since 2002.  So far the project has cost the City of Puyallup 15+ million.  The City of Puyallup even had to use a shady practice called “eminent domain” to legally steal the property of many hard working families.  One of them sued the City and won (by jury) a 5.4 million dollar settlement.  His legal fees were over 1 million dollars.  

This is not just about Puyallup it’s about the country and the way our transportation taxes are being wasted.  Instead of just using it (because we’ll lose it) mentality there needs to be a way so this money can be pushed into the areas of the city that really need it.