Bad roads/highways

[Ricky 4]

Last year I made a trip that went through Washington state as well as Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Oregon, Colorado and I was convinced Washington had the worst highways/roads.
But I just got back from another trip and now I think Arizona is the worst. This trip I went through Utah, New Mexico Colorado and Kansas.
What are your experiences? And why do you think the budgets don’t provide better roads? It would seem that roads should be a high priority?

[Mikmay]

Although I don’t live in Michigan I travell there allot . It is known to have 5 seasons summer,fall. Winter,spring and pot hole season. As budgets for road repair become smaller due mainly from less money collected from taxes and cars with increasing fuel mileage and electrics paying none governments are going to have to come up with better solutions.

[jen b]

I have found Indiana interstate road surfaces to be uniquely terrible.

[WizWid]

There is a trivially simple fix for this - increase the gas tax.

Standing back.....

[floyd]

Originally Posted by widgetwizard

There is a trivially simple fix for this - increase the gas tax.

Standing back.....

It really is not that simple...
The quality of materials, the skills of operators and the level of corruption of officials and civil engineers are just a few factors.
Other factors like the choice of surfaces I.E... Blacktop is superior to concrete when the foundation is properly laid.

One small factor which makes a huge difference is the skill and care with which the screed is operated on concrete roads. I-75 south of Atlanta and into FL is an example of done right. I-94 in Wisconsin is an example of done wrong.
Diverting motor fuel tax for other purposes such as mass transit can be another factor. Even weather( heaving or over salting) and truck weight enforcement are factors.

Good management and honest adherence to contracts is more important than just raising taxes to cover graft or incompetence.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by widgetwizard

There is a trivially simple fix for this - increase the gas tax.

Standing back.....

You mean after offering incentives for buying electric vehicles, and then building more power plants to 'fuel' these electric cars?
I'm looking forward to the day when the entire parking lot at Whole Foods is reserved for electric vehicles.

[rbryan]

Texas roads are pretty good for the most part. The exception is in the cities. Terrible. They've got the money, but it seems they'd rather spend it on their pet projects than fix the roads. There's a fellow who's running for the county commission near me whose campaign slogan is simply "fix the roads". As bad as some city roads are around here, the biggest problem is capacity and not condition. The growth is mind boggling, and unsustainable in my opinion. That's one of the big reasons we decided to build way way out of town. Enough of that mess. It'll take them another 30 years plus to reach us if they do, but by then we won't care.

[steve dunham]

Many have the desire to move out into the serene , placid countryside and live among nature . They then expect others to pay for a 6 lane freeway so they can travel to work in 5 minutes.
We cannot maintain the roads and bridges we have now yet we keep building more plus we use roads as a social planning tool
I live in Wisconsin and could defend my state but Floyd hit the nail on the head The way they built I 94 through Wisconsin borders on stupidity. Four years from now we will be tearing it up again but that's not bad considering it was only designed to last past the 2018 elections.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Ricky 4

...But I just got back from another trip and now I think Arizona is the worst...

I'm curious what parts of the state you traveled. I can't speak for all parts of our large state, but I have found AZ roads generally good, and often amazing, considering the obstacles. The worst in my experience are rural county roads and BIA-maintained roads on Native lands.

Just made a round trip on US 60 from eastern AZ to Lost Dutchman State Park east of Phoenix. Over the last 10 years there have been numerous projects to widen this heavily used route and add passing lanes. One 3 mile stretch through solid rock took over two years of blasting to complete. Amazing road, spectacular scenery, and easy towing!

I-40, on the other hand, suffers from too many heavy trucks and too many freeze-thaw cycles. Hate it, especially around Flagstaff. It's not from want of repair. Seems like it's always under construction!

I drove to Albuquerque on the NM stretch of I-40, and the weird thing I noticed was more than half of the guard rail ends were smashed up. Either they have a lot of accidents or they're really slow to repair them.

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

Many have the desire to move out into the serene , placid countryside and live among nature . They then expect others to pay for a 6 lane freeway so they can travel to work in 5 minutes.

How do you know what I expect? You don't know me at all, and I'd like to keep it that way.

[alan H]

Try the roads in calif
The interstate around los angles are horrible w/ highest gas taxes
Look out here come the infamous bullet train
Cause the gov “ likes trains “
The train to nowhere

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by rbryan

How do you know what I expect? You don't know me at all, and I'd like to keep it that way.

[Gerry]

last years trip into the interior of Maine, took me on some real rough roads. Paved yes, graded before they were paved, no. So I go slow 30mph, as to not loose the Boler off the side of the road with all the bouncing or taking out the axle, down into the dip caused by a culvert broken down by logging trucks. Slow down to 15 MPH and an empty logging truck come up on you doing 50.....find a place in the next 3 miles to inch over into the woods on the side of the road and let them go by....SCARRY.

[k0wtz]

steve I agree with you around our major cities here in mo. they build new subdivisions and yes those folks move into those and want their trips to their jobs to be 15ms or less.


I don't think its quite fair to the rest of us!


bob

[Carl Pa]

Originally Posted by steve dunham View Post
Many have the desire to move out into the serene , placid countryside and live among nature . They then expect others to pay for a 6 lane freeway so they can travel to work in 5 minutes.

I live out in the country, when i used to work i could get onto that major 8 lane hwy and be home in 8 minutes entrance ramp to exit ramp. Well i took the country roads home, took me maybe 20-30 minutes, it was the best part of the day, the scenery , no matter what time of year, was just out of this world. Carl

[Paul O.]

Originally Posted by Ricky 4

Last year I made a trip that went through Washington state as well as Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Oregon, Colorado and I was convinced Washington had the worst highways/roads.
But I just got back from another trip and now I think Arizona is the worst. This trip I went through Utah, New Mexico Colorado and Kansas.
What are your experiences? And why do you think the budgets don’t provide better roads? It would seem that roads should be a high priority?

Roads a high priority? With every new administration we get our hopes up; maybe this time it will be different???

The road from Rt. 550 to Chaco Culture National Historical Park should get the prize. It is miles of bare bedrock, randomly weathered. After taking it, it took me 45 minutes to put the Scamp back together and as a result I had a long list of repairs and improvements to do back home. No logging trucks, though!

The place itself is really neat, has a nice campground and the visitor center has an observatory with several telescopes and they do star parties. It is one of the few really dark sky locations still left. Well worth the trip.

For those who chase the stars, another dark site is City of Rocks, NM, which we visited a few days ago. Nice road to get there.

[Casita Greg]

Washington State has the 2nd most expensive gas taxes in the country, and our doofus Governor wants to add another 40 cents/gal on top of that for a "Carbon Emissions" tax. Our roads are terrible, as was mentioned, but very little of our road use tolls, excise taxes, and fuel taxes ever seem to find their way back to the roads they were supposed to be fixing. Too many special interest projects and not enough "putting the money where it belongs."

It is said that in England, "we drive on the left."
In Washington, "we drive on what's left."

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by Ricky 4

Last year I made a trip that went through Washington state as well as Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Oregon, Colorado and I was convinced Washington had the worst highways/roads.
But I just got back from another trip and now I think Arizona is the worst. This trip I went through Utah, New Mexico Colorado and Kansas.
What are your experiences? And why do you think the budgets don’t provide better roads? It would seem that roads should be a high priority?

Hi: Ricky 4... Bad roads aren't just a left coast problem... they're every where. Just back from the sunny south I have a shopping list of repairs for my RV Tech. My truck didn't escape the roads wrath either. I blame in the most part the J I T mentality of Americas manufacturers. Having all their parts inventory on the roads is causing no end of damage to the tarmac. Not to sound too "Politico" the gas taxes seem to disappear into the general funds of the state not to the pavement funds of the state.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[minke]

In Colorado Springs we have the usual moonscape roads and we blame the freeze-thaw cycles. When I drive on Fort Carson roads (obviously a micro-climate where they don’t have freeze-thaw cycles) my F-250 doesn’t rattle my bones.

I believe that it is cheaper to do it right the first time but we just don’t have the will or the business acumen.

[thrifty bill]

Louisiana is the worst. To be fair to them, building roads on swamps is difficult.