Time Marches On

Time is an inexorable process.  That is to say, nothing can stop it.  As surely as a single second ticks off the clock, a billion years will eventually go by.  Not that there’s nothing to mark certain moments in time.  It’s just that once that moment is gone, it quickly fades into the past.

There are, fortunately, relics from the past that survive to tell us of the significance of certain eras.  The Coliseum that was built in Rome, for example, or the pyramids of Egypt, tell of the greatness of these ancient seats of civilization. 

Closer to home, there are the highways that were re-built correctly during the Patton administrations.  Prior to Gov. Patton’s terms in office, every major roadway in the county was covered in potholes pretty much year round.  Any repaving was done as quickly as possible; usually a week would suffice to complete any job.  Fresh asphalt was put down in layers that looked as though it had been painted on with a brush.  And those potholes that the new pavement covered would reappear within weeks.

But when Gov. Patton was in office, a miracle took place.  For instance, when U S 460 from Mouthcard to Belcher got the royal treatment, the roadbed was dug up to a reasonable depth, a solid foundation was laid, and the road then got several rough coats of pavement before the finishing coat was applied.  Instead of getting the job done in a week’s time, this process took almost an entire summer.

This process was repeated all over the county.  Soon State Route 194, old U S 119, etc., all were sporting thick new coats of pavement over solid road beds.  The result is, these roads are all still in pretty good shape, lo these many years later.

But it has been a few years since Gov. Patton left office, and let’s face the facts:  When the good times are gone, they are gone for good.  And any driver can tell you now that the area’s roadways are once again sporting some pretty deep and fairly wide potholes.  That three-lane portion of U S 460 now has some potholes that are impressive to say the least.  Small cars are well-advised to go around them; otherwise they might be swallowed in the abyss.

Well, it did take a while, didn’t it?  I mean the potholes didn’t reform overnight.  Well, that might be because the administration that followed Gov. Patton’s, that of the one-term Gov. Ernie Fletcher, did something that no Governor before or since has done, and that is, he directed the Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement Agency to enforce the laws against overweight coal trucks.  That by itself did a great deal to help the roadways hold up.

Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  Those graveyard humps are back now.  Yes, after four years of cracking down on overweight coal trucks, the state’s enforcement agencies are now looking the other way again.  Well, anyway judging from some of the potholes I’ve traveled around.

This era may well have been the Golden Age for the area’s drivers.  Soon lore will be passed from father to son about roads that went on for miles and miles, and no potholes.  Not that anyone will believe it.