Are People Dumber than a Pothole?

[Industrial Toys]

Funny though. You drive a couple of times on your lawn and the grass is ruined. But no matter how many times you drive on the edge of the driveway over unwanted vegetation and it seems to have no effect.

 

[BrokenTrack]

How much of a problem to have removed the stump at time of state road widening. it isn't just people that are dumb.

The State Dept of Transportation is like that here. They LOVE to plane up all the hot top, then put gravel back down, then pave, and they wonder why the road lasts 10 years instead of 30.

I asked the State Engineers why don't they just put gravel over the hot top and build the road up? Traffic has been compacting the road base for years. When you build a home, you leave the soil under the footing undisturbed as much as possible so that it is on a firm bedding.

They told me it was so "water can get down through the roadbase, and hot top would stop it."

Apparently they do not look at the road when they are driving on it, because in the Spring of the year when the frost goes out, water comes UP through the road, so I would think if it could come UP through, it surely would go down through! Instead they spend millions grinding out the roadbed, hauling it off, and then hauling in new gravel that is not compacted nearly as well.

I just shake my head...

 

[BrokenTrack]

I work with the State Dept of Transportation a lot, and shaking of the head is a continual thing...

We got a spot in town where the road goes down a long hill, then is superelevated aound a curve. On the inside it is low of course, and so water runs down the hill, and collects on that inside edge.

We were putting in a culvert not far away from that spot, so I asked the State Inspector, "Why not put in a catch basin and drain, to get that water/ice spot out of the road?"

"Oh we do not have the money for that?"

"Really, you have paid for it ten times over on the number of man-hours you have spent sending crews out in the middle of the night to salt that one spot!"

 

[Alien]

Our local road develops potholes and people drive straight into them and make them larger. I drive around them as does my neighbour. Often find a wheel cover off a late model car near the potholes after folk hit them. Beyond comprehension I'm afraid...

 

[oosik]

Around here they most usually put something right on top of the existing asphalt. Kind of like - oiled gravel. A really long pile right down the center of the road. Then blade it to each edge and compact it with a roller.

On the big roads - like I-90 - they have a machine that removes the top asphalt - grinds it up, heats it, re-oils it, lays it back down. Then they compact it with a roller.

Then, every once is a great while, brand new asphalt. Makes that section so smooth - you barely notice that your tires are touching the road surface.

 

[Diggin It]

Potholes aren't dumb. They organize and show up just where we drive. It's deliberate. Then there are the cult clusters where they communicate with each other and create grid like patterns (though they seem random to us) that make it much harder to avoid them. They'll also go into stealth mode and hide behind obstacles, along road edges/curbs or around curves. The superintelligent ones will fill up with water so we can't tell how deep they are.

 

[oosik]

You want to talk about POTHOLES. 1965 - yes, before a lot of you were born - we drove the Alcan highway to Alaska. We had a brand new VW. There were sections where the potholes were sooooo big - there was an entrance ramp & exit ramp at the larger ones. You would drive in - it was so deep you couldn't see the road until you started up the exit ramp.

And many times there was a small gathering of mountain sheep down at the bottom of the pothole. Licking the salty road material that was used to construct the road. Adventures in traveling!!

 

[Diggin It]

Did that in either '69 or '71, can't remember which now. Spooky stuff running 70+ over gravel and having semis pass you. Some sections were so dusty you had to almost stop when one of those came towards you.

 

[Jstpssng]

Potholes aren't dumb. They organize and show up just where we drive. It's deliberate. Then there are the cult clusters where they communicate with each other and create grid like patterns (though they seem random to us) that make it much harder to avoid them. They'll also go into stealth mode and hide behind obstacles, along road edges/curbs or around curves. The superintelligent ones will fill up with water so we can't tell how deep they are.

Are you saying they are related to Pallets?

I live on a gravel road which is like the hypotenuse of a triangle between two highways. I often have suggested that the town put up a gate in spring between me and the next house, to stop the through traffic. There seems to be more traffic on it during mud season than any other time of year. One spring I was parking my truck at the beginning of my property and walking the last 1/4 mile home, to avoid making a bad section worse. I watched a car pick it's way through, then the driver stopped, rolled his window down and asked "Does it always get this bad?" I had to bite my tongue but wanted to say "It wouldn't if you idiots would stop driving on it."
As I was walking home one day

 

[oosik]

Diggin_IT....... You could see miles & miles down the Alcan - ahead of you. Way down there - a dust cloud. It was a semi coming your way. Many times we would just slow down and pull over or even pull off, if possible. Those semis - on the Alcan - a REAL gravel throwing machine.

Jstpssng - I know how you feel. Folks, UKN to me, come down my driveway this time of year. I go out and ask - "why are you here". "Oh, we just wanted to see where the "road" went. Obviously - they can not read English. Private Driveway - No Trespassing signs at the outer gate. Some even have the gall to ask - "Why haven't you fixed that muddy patch on your driveway". I tell you - some are knocking on Death's Door.

Unfortunately - you missed a golden opportunity. I probably would have said what you thought - or something worse.