Let’s face it. Infrastructure isn’t exciting. It’s often unremarkable or out of sight, and it can be overlooked.

But infrastructure is vitally important to help a community function properly and to prepare it for the future, and that’s what the 1 percent specific purpose sales tax proposition on Tuesday’s ballot is all about. 

For Powell, the 1 cent tax would accomplish a project that has been on the city’s to-do list for decades. It would generate $4.25 million to widen Absaroka Street and rebuild the water line and the storm drain under it. The project also would replace curb, gutter and sidewalks, plant new trees and add brighter, energy-efficient street lights.

Absaroka, part of Wyo. Highway 295, is one of the city’s main arteries. But it’s congested and so narrow that some residents park on the curb to keep their cars from getting hit by traffic on the street, and truck drivers have difficulty navigating turns onto and off of Absaroka.

These are problems that will get worse as Powell grows and traffic increases.

The water line under Absaroka Street is aging, and the storm drain is incapable of handling water from any sizable storm. Some intersections don’t even have storm-drain inlets, causing huge water puddles after summer rainstorms and ice buildup in the winter.

Without correction, those problems are likely to worsen over time as well.

The 1 cent tax proposal also would raise $5 million for the city of Cody for a water treatment lagoon upgrade, ADA ramps throughout the city, and for crack sealing and chip sealing a lengthy list of city streets.

Park County would get $2.43 million from the tax to replace three bridges and to rehabilitate and improve sections of the South Fork Road.

The town of Meeteetse would receive $2 million to rehabilitate a sewer lift station, and to bring water, sewer and electrical installation to an industrial site. 

These projects are things most people are unlikely to get excited about. But they’re all projects that will address problems and improve Park County and its communities.

It’s important to remember a couple more things about the tax:

• About a third of the money will come from people traveling in Park County, including the northern section of Yellowstone.

• Once the money is raised — after about two and a half years — the tax goes away. This money can only be spent on these specific projects.

Park County and municipal leaders said they are proposing a specific purpose tax because voters indicated they prefer that over a general purpose fifth-penny tax.

It’s up to us as voters to decide whether to support these projects. But if the proposal is defeated, the need for infrastructure improvements won’t go away, and city and county leaders will have to find another way to pay for them. If they don’t, infrastructure will continue to deteriorate, and needs will continue to grow.

Taking care of infrastructure needs before they become critical is imperative. Preventing problems usually is much cheaper than fixing them. And, as we all know, city and county revenue is harder to come by these days.

As we mentioned above, infrastructure is taken for granted and often goes unnoticed. But when something goes wrong — a road develops potholes, sidewalks crumble or a water line breaks — plenty of people pay attention, and they’re not happy.