John Kessler: Why are so many roads in such bad shape?

I have been a resided in Merced County for 30 years. In that time, I have seen many changes, good and bad.

Selling pharmaceuticals to agricultural businesses requires me to drive on not only main roads but also rural roads. Knowing we all pay taxes and portions of that monies are specifically for road improvements, I have been extremely disappointed with the upkeep. Although I understand not every road can be maintained to my liking, there are some heavily traveled roads that have never been tended too, including: Oak Avenue in Merced; Pfizer Road in Gustine; South Van Clief Road in Stevinson; East Sandy Mush Road, south east of Healy Road, Merced; Schultz Road and Anchor Road in El Nido; the stretch of northbound Highway 99 between Buhach and the Applegate exit – the right lane is atrocious.

I travel these roads daily and find it troubling they have never been maintained properly. Patching a pothole is a far cry from a properly maintained a road. The ridiculous bumps and uneven roads require me to get two-wheel alignments every year. When crossing from Merced County into Stanislaus, the difference is night and day. Why is that? Why have our county roads been so neglected?

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 8:16 AM with the headline "John Kessler: Why are so many roads in such bad shape?."