V is for Victory!

The big news in Mankato this week (or what passes for a significant change in the landscape, at any rate) was the completion of the grandiose 'Victory Drive Project.' It's taken them 14 years, an interchange, a bridge and finally this little chunk to get it done, but it's done. The construction circus that's been gumming up the road since early summer is finally over.

The view from my car:





You see, behind those concrete barriers is where the road used to run. Straight until it intersected with Madison by the McDonald's and across from the decrepit mall of Mankato, Madison East. Instead, they moved the road over here:





All total, they spent who knows how much money shifting the road maybe 100 feet. All in the name of sparing people the horror of having to turn at a set of stop lights, drive 100 feet and... turn again! Happily, I know nothing about why such things are decided- but apparently it's all in the name of future development.

But- you decide: waste of time or useful planning for the future?