Stimulated and Improved

I was on vacation over Thanksgiving week and I spent it on a fantastic solo bicycle tour from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Key West, FL - camping the whole week. We were blessed with fantastic unseasonably warm weather and despite some periodic strong headwinds, I was able to complete the 440 mile trip without any major obstacles.

But there were a few obstacles - mostly in the form of road construction. US1 through the Florida Keys is a notoriously dangerous 2 lane road with heavy traffic consisting of mostly recreational vehicles (boats, RV's etc.) with no shoulder to speak of. Some areas through the Keys have bicycle paths that are in bad disrepair. But all of that is changing and the progress made so far is fantastic. The lanes are wider with turning lanes, shoulders nearly a car length wide (which might allow for better evacuations during hurricanes) and even the bike paths are being improved though the entire stretch. It is a wonderful improvement in safety and comfort with a touch of "green" with the added bicycle lanes.

I saw lots of people working on these road improvement projects and I also saw lots of signs indicating they were being funded with government stimulus monies. In my opinion, this is how economic stimulus is being done right. Rather than just give people tax money back, it is being invested in our infrastructure while putting people back to work at the same time. It is a double win situation. Everyone gets to enjoy these road improvements throughout the country while workers are able to feed their families and maybe even spend some earnings on other things further helping the economy.

I complement President Obama and the current administration for doing economic stimulus correctly.