I live in the incredibly tight knit community of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. While living in a close community has its’ perks there is one main downfall and that is that we all share the same problems. However, the community can easily use this to their benefit, in order to come together to encourage a change towards a problem that has wreaked havoc on our city for years now. The people who inhabit Hazleton have been known to be incredibly hard workers. Because of this, one can understand that it can be very frustrating to have to deal with incredibly inconvenient and unexpected costs. Hazleton is part of the heart of North East Pennsylvania, and because of this we are known to have incredibly harsh winters. While we have adapted to dealing with …show more content…
Starting in the year two thousand and eleven, the city only put twenty thousand towards road construction and repairs. Due to this lack of investment the cost of quick repairs have more than tripled this amount. Specifically I feel as though Hazleton should invest in new chip seal technology. This surface treatment helps “prevent water intrusion, fills and seals pavement distresses, and minimizes reflective cracking”. This will be beneficial to the city considering most of our road damage comes from the harsh conditions implemented on the roads during winter. Chip seal lasts over a time span of at least seven years. Hazleton has an area of six miles. This means that the cost of the chip seal would cost the city ninety thousand dollars. In comparison, the city has put approximately three hundred thousand dollars into road work over the past seven years. By implementing this technology on all the roads throughout Hazleton this would save the city approximately one hundred and ninety seven dollars every seven years. The city would then have a surplus of money to put into other areas of the budget for five years after making the initial payment. Therefore, this solution would not only be solving the problem of the road damage but it would also allow the city to improve itself in other ways. Finally this solution would …show more content…
While this is true, the amount would still only be a onetime investment every seven years and there is almost two hundred thousand dollars to spare going into hiring before the cost would be equal to what has been spent in the past. No matter what, the solution to the problem is not to continue what is currently being done. Quick fixes are much more costly and inefficient than a permanent solution. Another solution would to be spread the fixes out over a multitude of years. Yet this would put another time inconvenience on the public and still be taking money away from other parts of the budget on a yearly