We have all been dealt curve balls – your car that you barely have paid off suddenly needs work, a rain storm lets you know that your roof needs replacing, or your furnace up and dies on you.

Prudently, you try to stall some of these repairs; the car may be able to take used parts, the roof might be patched, the furnace – well, unfortunately, the furnace is a goner.

What if you refuse to accept that a new furnace is a done deal? What if you’re convinced that you can get by this winter without one? The furnace repair person, an expert in this field, tries to tell you otherwise, offers other expert opinions, and even offers you an extremely discounted rate on a replacement. You stand firm by your belief that it really isn’t that bad although you have no alternative heating source, and since you have

hot water baseboard heat, no furnace means no hot water as well.

Your family is standing behind you, even though there are some grumblings from your teenage daughter about not being able to take hot showers. Anyone with an iota of common sense is quick to point out the colossal mistake you are making and the deadly “frozen path” you are leading your family down.

It’s a ridiculous scenario. Unfortunately, however ridiculous, this is exactly the scenario playing out when it comes to funding repairs and maintenance to our roads and bridges.

This isn’t a problem that we just became aware of – many other legislators and I sound like a broken record. But while the subject matter may not be new, the situation is getting worse by the day. It is irresponsible to bury our heads in the sand and ignore what far too many Maine drivers are forced to endure every day.

We know that our roads are not receiving appropriate funding; drive down a road in Maine, just about any road, and you quickly realize that it is in need of repair. The situation became dire last fall when the Maine Department of Transportation found itself facing approximately a $130 million shortfall, forcing the department to defer

roughly 140 planned road and bridge projects across the state.

As we entered the session in January, some of us were ready to fix the problem – a nonpartisan working group had developed a solution, and all signs pointed to “go.” Unfortunately, you all know what happened. Like a spring frost heave, politics got in the way and derailed everything (it also busted a few tie rods along the way). We left with nothing.

It didn’t matter how good of a deal we were able to get with bonds, it didn’t matter how many jobs road construction would create (employment numbers indicate that for each million dollars in highway spending, 31 jobs are supported/created), and oddly enough, it didn’t even matter how loudly the people of Maine supported this funding, stridently anti-bond Republicans refused to budge. We are now entering this winter with our roads much worse for the wear.

Maine has 22,750 miles of public roads – as a frame of reference, it’s roughly 3,300 miles from Bangor to Seattle, Wash. Approximately 45 percent of state roads have not been built to a modern standard. There are 1,737 miles of rural highways, major economic links that have not been improved since the 1950s.

Each district has a horror story – in our area several come to mind, especially Route 2. Route 2 is part of the system of major east-west road that connects Route 9 and the Canadian traffic to New Hampshire. It is one of two major roads serving heavy trucks not allowed on the interstate. The Newport-to-Bangor stretch was deferred last fall. It is currently getting a skim coat, but that falls dramatically short of the necessary repairs.

Maine DOT is carrying forward more than $1 billion in unfunded transportation project requests from its FY06-07 Capital Work Plan, and is still carrying $100 million in previously deferred projects which will be given priority consideration over other requests.

Just like you can’t get through the winter without a furnace, this can’t go on. Politics cannot get in the way one more session, and I for one certainly won’t let it. It’s time my colleagues get their heads out of the sand and take some real action.

Joe Perry, D-Penobscot, represents Senate District 32, the communities of Bangor and Hermon. He is the Senate chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation.