I always get exercised when I see marginal highway projects in Downstate Illinois, while area residents are threatened (with the support of local officials) with a local toll bridge across the Fox River between Carpentersville and Algonquin.

In 2007, we were driving from McHenry County to Coles County via Interstate 57.

Right north of where we got off the highway in the Mattoon area, we saw a new overpass.

“What a waste!” I thought.

It’s not as if the area is growing.

Then I thought of Eagle Creek Resort, a state-owned, but not flourishing resort on Lake Shelby we stayed at.

We enjoyed it.

I got a marvelous photo of a butterfly and a little girl and her father in the pool where my son spent most of his time.

I was told the overpass was to provide better access to it. Some were planning to put a casino there.

So, I took a picture of it on the way home.

When we got to the Champaign area, I spotted another new overpass.

“Another waste,” I thought.

Another photo opportunity.

Fast forward almost three years and what does the news say about the Champaign County overpass?

That Republican candidate Bill Brady had a subdivision he was trying to build east of town and the overpass would make that possible.

That he voted for the bill to build the overpass.

Charges of conflict of interest.

Just in case you think any candidate for governor is pure as the driven snow.

And, what about McHenry County’s population growth?

And Kane County’s growth was none to shabby either.

That sucking sound you hear is Northern Illinois Motor Fuel Tax money draining south for marginal road projects, while we sit in traffic jams.