Road bill is classic pork-barrel plan

To the editor:

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond seems proud of his work on the Transportation Equity Act, a $286 billion bill. He touts the benefits while failing to reveal that the bill is a classic example of pork-barrel politics at its best.

Money for the bill comes from federal fuel taxes, but the funds are not distributed evenly among states. The bill spends roughly $86 a person on a national average, but it spends an average of $1,500 a person in Alaska. Some may wonder how the nation's third least populated state is the fourth biggest recipient of the bill's funds. The answer is U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who is chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He secured over $941 million for his state.

Out of this, a $223 million bridge will be built to connect Ketchikan (population 8,000) to Gravina Island (population less than 50). A $231 million bridge will be built to connect Anchorage to Port MacKenzie, a rural swamp that has one resident north of the biggest town in the area, Knick (population 22).

So while Young is building bridges to nowhere, the rest of the nation suffers. According to the National Society of Civil Engineers, there are more than 160,000 bridges and 34 percent of roads that need repairs. For the nearly $1 billion going to Alaska, all the traffic lights in the U.S. could be improved, reducing congestion by 40 percent.

We owe Senator Bond a big thank you for making sure our dollars are spent wisely.

CHRIS SIEBERT, Cape Girardeau