US Roads Crumbeling

RonMN · Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:56 pm Post subject: US Roads Crumbeling

As if we didn't know this already...here's a bit of a news report out today:

QUOTE:
About 71 percent of major roads and highways in the Kansas City area are considered substandard, ranking the city No. 1 on the list of large urban areas with poor quality roads.

The St. Louis area ranked No. 3, with 66 percent of major routes having unacceptable quality pavement, according to the study released Thursday by TRIP, a Washington-based transportation research group.

And my personal favorite quote:

"We get a lot of cross-country traffic and we get more than our fair share of heavy truck traffic as well," Briggs said. "A lot of these major highways are 30 to 40 years old, taking a tremendous beating from all this traffic, and they are simply wearing out faster than we can repair them."

Can you say "overshoot"???

Jack · Dark Lord Joined: Aug 11, 2004 Posts: 4972

It's a nationwide phenomenon. We built the roads - and now we cannot even maintain them.

Gee, I wonder what will happen post-peak? Cool

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ubercrap · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 27, 2005 Posts: 318

smallpoxgirl · Moderator Joined: Nov 08, 2004 Posts: 5212

TrueKaiser · Intermediate Crude Joined: Oct 28, 2004 Posts: 539

it's mainly due to the fact that the taxes on gas here is not locked into only going for road repairs. because of that the tax money is used to fund pork mostly.
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pstarr · Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 12:03 am Post subject:

It's mainly due to peak oil. We built one interstate highway system when we had lots of cheap Texas crude. Now that we have no cheap Texas crude, the PARTY IS OVER!!! No more interstate highway system. So sad. I'm all broke up.

pete
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aahala · Intermediate Crude Joined: Feb 03, 2005 Posts: 954

I'm in KC pretty often and am surprised they get the #1 award. It may
have been because of the unusually bad first few miles of I-70 leaving
the city east to St. Louis. Both towns probably get more than their share
of traffic due to their central location.

KC is on the "Nafta Highway" where Mexican and Canadian goods are
transported in the US. I've heard that in N. Mexico/S. Texas there's a
area that has the greatest level of semi traffic in the world. The trucks load
up with goods from Mexico but they don't return empty, they return
filled with cash, government debt securities and credit card receipts to pay
for the next shipment. Very Happy

cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3374

The roads aren't that bad......yet. It could always get worse. Very Happy

Tanada · Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject:

Pot holes smot holes, most of the serious one are caused by over loaded long haul trucks, and PO is killing off long haul trucking almost as fast as it kills the Airlines. Rail is more than 9 times as efficient in terms of ton/miles for cargo trasnport and as costs rise the bussiness is moving there.
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spot5050 · Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 7:51 pm Post subject: Re: US Roads Crumbeling

matt21811 · Heavy Crude Joined: May 21, 2005 Posts: 173

"they are simply wearing out faster than we can repair them."

Can you say "overshoot"???"

Total non sequitur.
The first statement isnt even true. Are they telling me that the rate of repair of roads cant be improved simply by, oh i dont know, spending more money.

As for overshoot. We are not even close. Universal wealth will curb the population way before we reach any nature imposed restrictions.

ubercrap · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 27, 2005 Posts: 318

JBinKC · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 248

I'll take bad roads over the waiting time and energy wasted by traffic jams from road construction caused from these repairs they are attempting to do now on the interstate system.

I must admit quite a few city streets are bad but that is KC's undoing by annexing such a big area to maintain. I believe the city has the most road miles per capita than every city in the US.

Cyrus · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jan 25, 2005 Posts: 608

TheTurtle · Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 7:12 am Post subject: