Keith Tanner wrote: When we were in Europe last year, we saw lots of construction on the secondary roads. Let's just say that OSHA regs are quite a bit different over there, even in Germany. I'm pretty sure we saw some chipsealing, too.
Stricter or looser over there?
I've lived and traveled to quite a few places. Ohio has the worst roads I have ever driven on, bar none.
Sky_Render wrote: I've lived and traveled to quite a few places. Ohio has the worst roads I have ever driven on, bar none.
Penn and NJ own that title, Ohio is 3rd.
i always thought we had crap roads here in MN... then i took a roadtrip to Texas last summer that meandered thru St Louis and Memphis... Arkansas had the worst roads- the one road (whichever one that goes north/south between St Louis and Memphis) was brand new- the construction signs were still up and all the equipment was parked along the side of the road and the lines were freshly painted. the poor exhaust on my Camaro was bottoming out every 100 feet or so for that entire stretch of road.. yeah, my exhaust is kinda low on that car, but it never bottoms out anywhere else..
Bobzilla wrote:Sky_Render wrote: I've lived and traveled to quite a few places. Ohio has the worst roads I have ever driven on, bar none.Penn and NJ own that title, Ohio is 3rd.
Granted, its been 33 years since I lived there, but when I did, NYC roads were far worse than in Jersey
For a while I was plant manager for an asphalt emulsion plant. We made the emulsified liquid mix they us i n some cases for chip sealing. A few thoughts
-- Most of the time in chip sealing, it's not actually oil - it's asphalt emulsion, which is 66% liquid asphalt just like they made the blacktop with originally, 32% water, and 1% emulsifier chemicals. When it's done right, the liquid is sprayed down and the rock is spread in it. Then at a time determined by the chemistry and conditions, the emulsion "breaks," separating into liquid asphalt and water. Because the rocks are half-immersed in it, the asphalt binds them securely to the road surface beneath. That's the theory.
--when it's done right, it works very well for it's intended use - revitalizing old blacktop where the oils and asphalt have been leached out or oxidized. It's not going to do a damn thing for cracked, broken, busted pavement that needs to be torn up and relaid.
--We sold mix to a lot of different governmental bodies. Most states require certified mixes for state-funded projects, and state-certified construction techniques. Those are typically pretty solid if well enforced, but we often sold to county governments that didn't need to use state certified materials...you can guess how some of those projects probably go.
If you think about it, roads really haven't "changed" in the last few hundred years.
Here is a path made of stone. Said the romans
Here is path that has become stone. Said the Detroiter
Bobzilla wrote:Sky_Render wrote: I've lived and traveled to quite a few places. Ohio has the worst roads I have ever driven on, bar none.Penn and NJ own that title, Ohio is 3rd.
I've never been to NJ but the PA Turnpike is awful.
At least when you pay to use a road in Ohio, you get a very very very good road. Note that it's the only place in Ohio where triple trailers are legal.
Growing up I lived on a "Red Dog" road for 15 years. Put down a thick layer (12" or so) of clinkers from the steel mill, roll it down good, spray it with asphalt emulsion.
If you fell off your bike on the road you didn't just get scrapped up, you got some very nasty cuts from the melted silica in it.
MadScientistMatt wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: When we were in Europe last year, we saw lots of construction on the secondary roads. Let's just say that OSHA regs are quite a bit different over there, even in Germany. I'm pretty sure we saw some chipsealing, too.Stricter or looser over there?
Much looser, to the point where she was taking pictures of the pavers and other workers to show her coworkers.
And Janel laughed when I mentioned the comment about how "we need do learn to make roads like the Germans". The autobahns might be good, but the secondary roads aren't any better than here in Colorado. Of course, we do have better pavement than Michigan and a lot of other states.
Where I work in PG County Maryland, they just tear up the roads multiple times, with patches over patches of asphalt, going multiple directions. Some have poor baselayer, so they sink into tire-swallowing potholes with smooth edges, while others I guess they expect to sink so they build them up like a bump, but then they never sink. Every morning is like a rallycross for the last 1 mile before I get to work. Then I see a crew out there "fixing" things and amazingly the next day it's even WORSE.
Granted, this is the county where about half the council is under investigation at any given time for bribery or graft. So we know where the actual transportation money is going...
On the other hand, I live in Fairfax, VA. And our roads are awesome (for the US, not compared to Germany). In most of the county, they don't do actual pothole repair, they just repave 100' of the road around where the potholes are forming. It's a rare day that I hit a pothole in my own county and go "damn that hurt." It's every day in PG county.
Reason I dont' mind my very high property taxes, since they go to keeping the infrastructure nice.
I'm known here as a huge defender of Michigan and Detroit, but our roads suck, they suck bad bad bad. One exception is I696, they really built that well considering it's age. Other than where there was the huge accident and a tanker exploded about 12 years ago and they had to repair it, they are only just starting to do repairs on it almost 40 years later. Let's see how those repairs hold up though! Admittedly that is a concrete road.
Gearheadotaku wrote: When driving north on I-75 you know you've entered Michigan without even seeing the sign. Your suspension smacks the bumpstops and you need to turn up the radio to cover the noise.
The noise increase is really because you've escaped Ohio and returned to civilization so can actually drive at a reasonable speed without fear of falling into the evil clutches of the flying donut patrol. I swear as soon as you cross the state line everyone mashes the throttle and jumps 15-20mph cruise speed, me included.
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