August 25, 2013 4:35PM # Please, Just Build Him a Statue By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE David Fahrentold [reports in the Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-six-budget-showdowns-big-government-is-mostly-unchanged/2013/08/23/97d90578-0068-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story_1.html): > \[P\]ork, the habit of using taxpayer money for a legislator’s pet cause.… appears to be stronger even than death. > > > That’s clear from the story of the Robert C. Byrd Highway, a decades-old road project in West Virginia that had received earmarked funds for years from [Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D‑W.Va.)](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062801241.html), the longest-serving senator in history, who died in 2010. > > > The [highway has been maligned ](http://cagw.org/media/press-releases/cagw-reacts-obama%E2%80%99s-budget-cut-proposals)as a wasteful road to nowhere. But, now, it has outlived earmarks. It has even outlived Byrd. > > > This year, with continued support from [Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D‑W.Va.)](http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/) the highway got $40 million in federal money. It will need about that much every year, state officials say, until it’s finished in 2035. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).