Posted on 06/23/2015 8:17:39 AM PDT by george76
Boulder County is falsifying road maintenance data, and the Colorado Department of Transportation is refusing to verify the filings, some residents of the county’s subdivisions say.
Chuck Wibby, chairman of the Boulder County Fairness in Road Maintenance community group, provided Watchdog.org with nearly a dozen examples of roads Boulder County rated as good in its 2012 road inventory report to CDOT – roads the county’s own contractor rated as fair to poor that year.
“It’s sort of the textbook definition of fraud,” he said, adding the group sent state officials a letter with his allegations against the county. “The county submits falsified data and benefits from it.”
...
A CDOT official told Wibby that even if the county plows a road once a year that is considered maintenance — though it might not be good maintenance — for the purposes of highway tax money. Ford confirmed that conversation.
Gerstle said the county spends more on the disputed roads than it receives in HUTF revenue and if residents want better roads they should have supported tax increases.
...
Wibby contends there’s a coverup and vows to ask the district attorney for help if the state doesn’t enforce better maintenance.
“They’re so embarrassed by what is going on that they don’t want the general public knowing,” he said. “They want to look like they’re doing their jobs.”
Wibby said the state should look at the distribution of all the HUTF money because other counties may be filing for money and then misusing the funds.
“They don’t know how widespread it is,” Wibby said.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
The road by my house is being resurfaced this week, it didn’t really need to be resurfaced for at least another 2-3 years....
Meanwhile I drive in other areas and I wonder if the engine is still in my car after the first mile....
No doubt more government graft...
Tip of the iceberg at every level: local, state, and federal.
Flying down rough roads CAN wreck engine mounts.
The road by my place of work resembles the surface of the moon and floods in a sprinkle. Its largely an industrial/warehouse area and has absolutely zero pedestrian traffic.
What does the city do? Put in sidewalks.
“Chuck Wibby, chairman of the Boulder County Fairness in Road Maintenance community group”
They really have a group like this?? Really?? Obviously, people in Boulder have way too much time on their hands. Rio Linda of the Rockies.
Seriously, I am familiar with pavement inspections and evalutions. First, evaluation methods can be visual based and not strictly analyitical (measured with rulers). There can be subjectivity in the evaluation and what condition of the pavement is. Second, roadways are divided up into segments for inspection. County highway newtorks can easily be in the hundreds of miles and some of these segments can be very long. The pavement can vary in condition within these segments. A good inspector is to find the best representative sample of the pavement within this roadway segement to inspect and grade. He is not to chose the best part of the worse part, but rather a good representive part (average). Lastly, city, county and state highway departments have typically given college summer interns to help inspect and grade pavements on the highway network. While they typically do a good job, their can be variance in the grading and reporting especially if the inspection method is visual based (which can be subjective in nature)
I am not saying that Boulder is in the clear but I would have to see more evidence to conclude if wrong doing is going on. Remember, everyone wants great roadways in front of their homes and on the routes they drive.
Any group with the word “fairness” in it is suspect right from the get-go.
It reeks of Marxists, Statists, and Liberals.
Not always, but often enough to be an accurate rule of thumb.
I have worked for MANY government agencies
I firmly believe more than HALF (probably like 70%) of ALL government money is wasted on fraud and abuse
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