Pet projects funded ahead of infrastructure

RE: HAMILTON’S POTHOLE PROBLEM

While this winter may have exacerbated the pothole problem on Main West and other sections of the city, this is only an excuse for the poor maintenance that has been our city councillors’ prerogative for a number of years.

Instead of spending taxpayers’ money on infrastructure they have misspent it on a number of their “pet projects”. My pet peeve is the millions of dollars that have been misspent on unwarranted traffic signage (unwarranted as described by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada which is the gold standard of all good traffic safety engineers).

Almost every corner of the city has a stop sign at least (which are largely ignored) and some intersections have 10 or more signs telling you to “do this don’t do that, can’t you read the signs?” (words from a famous song by the Five Man Electrical Band). The signs not only cause visual pollution but there is no way the average person can be expected to take in this overload of information while driving a car and trying to avoid other cars and pedestrians.

My suggestion would be to adhere to the MUTCDC and not lower the standards as my local councillor has done a number of times and then use the savings to invest in essential infrastructure.

Paul John Phillips, Dundas