XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, can.politics, alt.politics.liberalism
XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.politics.usa.republican

On 2025-05-05, AlleyCat <katt@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sun, 4 May 2025 07:01:34 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom says...

Several states consistently rank low for road quality in the US. New
Mexico, South Carolina, and Mississippi frequently appear on lists

There's a difference in roads being poorly built and maintained and how subsurfaces affect well-built roads. I was the CAD
operator at two Engineering firms in Mississippi, one having a soils lab.

The substrates of the lands many of the roads go through, were of clay and clayey soils.

Where there was trouble keeping the roads in shape, the state tasked us with taking bore samples and analyzing them. The asphalt
was always good, but below the "surface and base course", which was comprised of differing "sections" (binder course, roadstone,
sub base, capping layer, etc.) lay the "natural formation", which was mostly clay the closer you got to the Mississippi River.

During the changing seasons, the clays would swell and shrink, making the roads look like this:

https://i.imgur.com/Y1WiDRv.jpg

I live in NYS and the problem here is that:

1. The roads are not built properly.
2. The repairs, almost yearly, are not done properly.
3. Rinse and repeat every single year.

Conclusion, job security for the crews working on the roads.

I have a vacation home in Vermont and most of the roads, heavily traveled
by trucks and 18 wheelers, are glass smooth and they have more or less the
same change of seasons that the place where I live has.

A few months ago I watched a Discovery channel show where they went into
detail on how superior roads are constructed, and repaird properly. They used the autobahn as a model.

It is truly complex, but when you are driving at 200 mph, potholes are
highly dangerous.

The repair system in the USA is corrupt and inept.

As an example of HOW it should be done. I was traveling back and forth from Atlanta
prior to the Olympics in 1996.
Much of the roads and infrastructure needed upgrading and repair.

So they took bids and in simple terms the way it worked was if the winning bid completed
the project on time, they got paid the bid price.
If they completed the project, to spec, ahead of time they got a hefty bonus. If they fell behind on the timeline, they were penalized a hefty amount.

And while there were some misses, the olympic dorms for example, the road infrastructure
was completed and exists to this day.







--
pothead
Liberalism Is A Mental Disease
Treat it accordingly <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14512427/Doctors-reveal-symptoms-Trump-Derangement-Syndrome-tell-youve-got-it.html>

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)