Welcome to 'Pot-hole' Pennsylvania

Dear Editor:

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania deserves the reputation our State has inherited over the years for having some of the worst roads in the country. Back when I was serving in the Marine Corps. my commanding officer was from Ohio, and when he found out I was from Pennsylvania, he told me how he could always tell when he had crossed into Pennsylvania by the "bumpy" road conditions. I can still hear my Dad complaining many years ago over the State raising the "gas tax" to improve the roads in Pennsylvania, and some 50 years later, the State continues to raise the price of gas, and the roads are still just as bad, if not worse. I am beginning to think the politicians in Pennsylvania have investments in all of the auto repair garages, because they surely have to be the busiest businesses with under carriage repairs, and replacing blown tires throughout the State.

Incidentally, according to the Federal Highway Commission; "Pennsylvania's roads are barely passing" and this report gives transit roads a rating of D-minus. Our State Representatives and the Department of Transportation should be ashamed of themselves to be receiving such a poor rating on the condition of our roadways in Pennsylvania. This isn't anything new to any of us, or nothing us "tax-paying" citizens' of Pennsylvania haven't been vividly aware of for the many years we've been living in and driving throughout our home State.

Hopefully, through this article I am publishing it will begin to provoke the drivers in Pennsylvania concerning the "aggravating" road conditions, and we will all begin to contact our local and State representatives to make this their top priority to implement immediate road improvements throughout. It is bad enough we have to continue to pay the ever rising cost for gas, but we also have the unnecessary added expense of wear and tear on our vehicles from the deplorable roads we must travel on day in and day out.

Furthermore, with many of the businesses leaving Pennsylvania over recent years, we vitally need tourism as one of our main resources for much needed revenue, and I am sure many tourists will think twice before planning to vacation or travel into Pennsylvania with the national reporting of our State's deteriorating infrastructure. Although our State of Pennsylvania does have one of the most beautiful, diverse landscapes in the country, and anyone visiting Pennsylvania marvels at the scenic mountainous countryside, dense woodlands, vast farmlands, and all of the famous historical areas located all around our State. William Penn had envisioned all of this beauty as a wonderful, everlasting place for people with families to dwell long into the future when he discovered "Penn's Woods" during the birth of our great nation.

However, traveling through Pennsylvania shouldn't have to be a dilemma of having to constantly keep your eyes on the road for fear of hitting a pothole, which could either blow-out a tire, break a wheel, or something even worse like possibly causing a serious accident. As being born and raised in Pennsylvania, and one who has traveled over most of the country in my lifetime, I have preferred the State of Pennsylvania to raise my family, and I would not want to live anywhere else in America. If only our State politicians who represent us, and are supposed to be serving us, would show us they also care about the overall welfare of Pennsylvania as much as we do. They could begin by diligently working hard on improving the infrastructure, and most importantly the roadways, so as you enter into our lovely State there would be large billboards by the roadside which would read; "Welcome to Pennsylvania the Birthplace of America" the most beautiful State in the country from "top to bottom".

John M. "Jack" Selby

Hometown