We have some roads in northern Emmet County that are in very poor shape. Some sections of Larks Lake Road, North Lake Shore Drive north of Cross Village and Sturgeon Bay Trail from Canby to North Lake Shore Drive are crumbling so bad they are almost dirt roads again. The cost of having these roads continue in such poor shape is placed twice on the property owners who live along these roads: Once in their property taxes and then again when they have to pay to have their vehicle repaired.
It is easy to point to flaws without providing a solution, however these roads are what we are paying for collectively. And, if we want to improve them then the funding has to come from down the street rather than waiting in line for funding to arrive from down state. At this point the solution for requires a significantly larger lump sum to properly fund the repairs. The question is will current funding levels pay for more Band-Aids or a long term fix?
I advocate for a long term fix in order to achieve the best usage of taxpayer funding in the long run. Filling potholes and covering up bad sections only makes the road worse over time. It’s time to re-pave the above-mentioned sections and enforce a weight limit on semi-trucks and heavy charter buses on roads that are not built to support them and where there are alternative routes. This preventative and low-cost action would have added 5 to 10 years of life to these roads without impeding commerce.