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by Tallmanok2 from Wayne, Mi

Last Post 2 days, 2 hours Ago


Road Woe's
Jun 12, 2008 | 7:01 AM
Category: News
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"State's already poorly maintained roads will crumble further as money dries up"

That's a headline from the Detroit News and the story goes on as were driving less the monies are slowing down to fix the roads.  Now let's all worry about the money, not the Weight Limit's that are higher than the Federal Limit's. If we don't reduce the weight and enforce the limits what's the point in worrying about the roads.  
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Member Comments Total Comments: 9
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jax276 read my blog view my photos
Jun 12, 2008 | 11:22 AM

Besides not enforcing weight limits, Michigan is notorious for burying the rads in salt because of it's abundance. Many states use cinders or sand for winter traction. Michigan has plenty of sand from the lakes but even if we paid other states like Kentucky, which uses cinders, the cost would easily be offset by less road damage and automobile damage. Rock salt eats cement and asphalt as badly as it eats cars. Plus salt is ineffective when the temperature falls too far below freezing. If I had a nickel for every pound of salt they dump in winter I'd be living like a king.
midevil read my blog
Jun 12, 2008 | 4:26 PM

Jax, one fall month, we bought a new SUV, and of course, used it for the winter months. One day we were driving down the road, hit a pothole the size of Kansas due to all the salt crappola they put here on the roads in Minnesota, and we found ourselves on the ground.

Yes, the salt ate the body of our truck, and when we hit the crater, all that was left was us, the steering wheel I was hanging onto, and the wife. Geez, lucky for us we weren't naked...

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO, naked guy on site.

(in a deep voice), "YES, JUST CALL ME ROCK BOTTOM".............
car7858 read my blog view my photos
Jun 12, 2008 | 7:49 PM

The weight limits are indeed a problem but note also the cheaper materials used to both build & repair our roads; The road commissions seem to be in the same spots making repairs on the same strips of roads. I believe using the asphalt instead of the usual dense concrete was a mistake because those types of roads seem to wear out faster, plus they are harder to get good traction on in rain & winter.
midevil read my blog
Jun 13, 2008 | 1:59 AM

12x-Car, sadly when I was younger, I worked road construction, and we used 90% pave, or tar for the roads. We also worked with the DOT and private contractors that installed a thick re-rod base of concrete. Concrete is good, it's very impervious to weather, shows up good at night with limited headlight power, but as you stated, it's extremely more slippery for traction and stopping power for any vehicle. We started hauling Taconite tailings (small iron ore shavings that were extremely minute) that was combined with the standard tar. The ground was oiled, we applied the mixture, and when it was set, it made an excellent road. Unfortunately, it's difficult to drive on during the night or during a heavy dark clouded or a heavily dark clouded storms with massive rain, and the salt that is applied, works it magic to destroy it quicker. Combine that with weight restrictions that have been lifted, and you now have a precursor for trouble. Now you have to patch the road due to the water that has settled under the tar pavement, that has frozen, and now the frost is causing an ugly upheaval in the spring. You can only patch so many times before it's unpatchable. With all our scientist here in this country, with Engineers that have degrees longer than my arrest record, can't they find a stable, long lasting road compound?

Wait, that would be smart, but then we'd lose jobs because you don't need the MN DOT road crews out there repairing 24 x 7. How silly of us to think that.
Tallmanok2 read my blog view my photos
Jun 13, 2008 | 3:04 AM

What do they place on the Autobahn in the winter? I know it's three foot thick and they don't have it falling apart.
midevil read my blog
Jun 13, 2008 | 7:44 AM

Per Wiki, it's
Asphalt concrete · Brick · Chipseal · Cobblestone · Concrete · Corduroy · Dirt · Gravel · Ice · Macadam · Oiled (bitumen) · Plank · Tarmac ·

Now, one of these materials is enough to keep the AutoBan from dying as quickly as what our roads do......which one?
Tallmanok2 read my blog view my photos
Jun 13, 2008 | 7:52 AM

Our roads aren't three foot thick. I believe there 18 inches.
car7858 read my blog view my photos
Jun 13, 2008 | 12:26 PM

Note also that the roads are usually in the worse shape near the curbs & gutters, which are made with rerod reinforced concrete which dosen't expand & contract as much as the ashphalt does. I also believe that the ground under the new paving isn't prepped as well as it used to be due to improper compaction & high water tables.
midevil read my blog
Jun 19, 2008 | 3:27 AM

Loss or a weakend compaction on the road does not remove alot of the air bubbles that lie under the compaction, thus when the frost leaves in the spring, it has to expand or decrease. Expansion of that water thus causes an upheaval in the roadway that breaks open, leaving a pothole.......geez, let's do it right the first time.
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Tallmanok2

I am an American Indian. I developed Muscular Dystrophy in 2001 at the ripe old age of 44. I spend my days mostly on line and with my wife, and kids. I guess you could say I'm a Democrat but I am most interested in what any candidate can do to improve the world in which we live. I know I really spell poorly but I take solace in the fact that neither could Einstein. LOL

Member Since: 10/3/2006


 

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