The pothole index

Drivers spend four times more ($4.8 billion per year) repairing the damage to their cars caused by poor and mediocre highways, than state highway departments spend each year
($1.2 billion per year) fixing those same roads. The table below lists the worst metro areas by miles of pothole-plagued highway.The total miles is if you were to place pot-holes back to back.

Area Total Pot-hole Mileage

Norfolk, VA 81
Charlotte, NC-SC 34
Orlando, FL 26
Richmond, VA 66
Memphis, TN 32
Albany, NY 47
Tampa, FL 75
West Palm Beach, FL 36
Seattle, WA 86
Cleveland, Oh 73

I don't freakin' believe that Atlanta is not on the list. They must not be counting sinkholes.

But there is good news to. The US Goverment has been working with a group of professors to creat a super road topping. Its supposed to be more durable and even smoother then blacktop. They have came up with one and its going to be tested this summer. Could this be the end of pot-holes? I really hope so.

The reason i post this, is because i just broke a rim last week on a damn hole.

[This message has been edited by lennyb4 (edited 04-27-2000).]

concrete works great

I have a splendid idea on how when could get some government agencies to spend more of our hard earned tax dollars on the highway infrastructure.

We all know that in America society there is a growing number of people who will not take responsibility for their own action(s), and they themselves and/or their families file subsequent and most frevolous(sp) lawsuits for millions of dollars because of their own stupidity.

Well, what we need to do is this (particularly in the areas mentioned previously as being extrememly pot hole ridden) an individual who has suffered alignment, tire and wheel problems, and/or suffered emotional distress over the event, this person needs to find a creative lawyer and file a class-action lawsuit. Pulling in thousands of people who have suffered similiar or the exact same problems.

Then take the government to court because the government knew that unrepaired pot holes have the possiblity of causing damage to vehicles and the pontential to cause accidents and emotional distress. The government was aware of this possibility but chose not to inform its citizenry.

All the government had to do was provide a warning to motorist at the DMV concerning the road conditions and the possiblities of adverse affects, yet the government willingly chose not to act in the best interest of the public and the public's safety. They, in effect, conspired to withhold this information from the citizenry.

This begs the question, how many citizens have been affected by the pot holes and they were not the one's driving across the actual pot hole(s)?

These second hand drivers, if you will, may have been physically hit by the car next to them, or merely(sp) hit by debris. It is also plausable that the second hand driver became scared and emotionally distressed by the actions of the driver motoring down the road next to them.

These second hand drivers have suffered physical damage and/or have been distressed by the actions of the other people. These second hand drivers cannot and must not be excluded from this class-action lawsuit.

The lawsuit should be filed seeking 1.5 trillion collective dollars from all goverment agencies, whether the agency was directly administrating a particular highway or not.

Once the lawsuit is won, the lawyers will receive 45% of the settlement, 35% settlement should go to the government highway funds for corrective measures. And the other 20% should be doled out the thousands (and by the end of the lawsuit, millions) of class-action members.

Sound feasible?

There are already some materials/techniques that have been proven to be better than what we have now but most have been beaten back by the paving industry. If the roads lasted twice as long as they do now pavers would lose tons of $$$. The late Senator John Chaffee(RI) was pushing for a material utilizing recycled tires and asphalt that has been throughly tested and shown to be a better paving material and was continualy thwarted by the paving lobby -we're talking BIG BIG bucks here

Hey gold SE..just out of curiosity have you ever thought of becomeing a lawyer? Now to your statement. There is a little known law that states a person who's veichle has been damaged by the adverse effects of pot hole may be entitled to a settlement not to exceed a set amount ( i think its like $500) per year. But good luck on ever getting anything.

Minneapolis didn't get on the list?!? How is that possible? We have potholes so big I could lost my GT in 'em! the plows rip up the road so much after winter... and it takes the road crews until fall to fix 'em all.. then the plows come out and tear it up again..

I'm surprised Michigan isn't on the list.

fiero56--No kidding!

TOM--Absolutely, but it's about 3x as expensive and noisier. (I vote for concrete, BTW.)

Gold-86se,
The government doesn't care one bit about your car--or you and me for that matter--unless you are some sort of a victim. So for the lawsuit to work, we are going to have to find a psychiatrist to work with us on a new syndrome: post-traumatic pot-hole syndrome (PTPHS--they love abbreviations like that). We will all need to quit our jobs claiming we can't work due to this. Of course, then we will have all kinds of time to attend our post-traumatic pot-hole syndrome support group meetings. If we could get a celebrity spokes-person behind us that would help a lot. Since you brought it up, I nominate you to head the initial chapter and to start the monthly newsletter. Then you can start and host an internet site for all of us to tell our stories. When it is all said and done, you will wind up getting a large government grant presented in front of the media by your local congressman/woman, but the pot-holes will still never get fixed.

Im not surprised to see Tampa on there. There is road construction going on everywhere in the city though. Maybe it will get better.

They don't FIX potholes they just MOVE them.

I think it was 20/20 or prime time, and they talked about that new asphalt with the recycled car tires. They did some study that the asphalt with the mix will never crack and last a lot longer then ordinary ashalt.

This is the issue they brought up why it wasn't being used. I guess construction workers are in a union, and they want to always have a job of paving roads, so they fear of losing jobs if all the roads are used with that new asphalt.

Anyone else hear this?

Standard,I'm with you. Minneapolis has potholes that can't be described on a family oriented Forum. The one that really amazes me is on 94 west by Woodbury, center lane. Hit that at 80, and look out.
Actually, I have a theory (look out, I smell a brain fart). The northern tier states would have the worst potholes because of the freeze/ thaw cycle. Nothing tears up a road faster than a frost heave, with semis rolling over it. When they are that bad, they have to be fixed, so the states send the road crews out. That's why our roads look like a patchwork quilt. Otherwise, Wisconsin and Minnesota would top the list.
After enough patching, they oil it and spread peagravel over it, to make you think they might have done something productive. This is just butter on the bumps. Patrick, you guys must have some monsters in the spring, too.
The only thing that will last in deep frost areas is concrete, provided it has the proper expansion joint design and installation. Road bed, concrete thickness, and reinforcing also come into play.
Jeez, I get long winded sometimes. Started to bore myself there. Somebody stop me.....

I remember reading about an invention, about the size of a large RV or bus.. it drove along at 10mph patching potholes. 10mph doesn't seem too fast compared to cars, but if this thing drives for 6 hours a day, that's 60 miles of fixed roads. Of course, the unions didn't like it.

I'd love to see more automated technology take over jobs like highway repair... the pavers can get new jobs.. keeping road repairs the way they are isn't working, and it would be a lot more efficent for each state/province/city to get one or more of these machines, and just have them running all the time..

but the new surface material with the recycled tires is an excellent idea. I'm sick of unions and large companies (esp. oil ones..) preventing new and innovative technologies from reaching the mass market simply because they don't want to change their own ways, or give up a bit of profit.

You know what the new road paving needs behind it? A means to bash the (so called) religious right). Get a "Right Wing" organization against it, claiming that it's bad for the family, or hurts the unborn, and the unions and politicians will flock behind it (Especially this administration). Those whacko Christians have no idea what's best for our roads. It's our Constitutional right to use recycled bicycle tires!

Thed with thung in theeck by a conthervative.