Road Repairs

This blog posting has nothing to do with deafness or cochlear implants, or the beauty of the morning, or my family or work. I just want to express my pet peeves about the condition of the roads around here, completely ignoring my past experiences on Malian roads which are many times worse, and realizing that I really should be appreciative for the work the road crews do to improve things.

However, Lansing road repair crews just finished doing a stretch of downtown highway patches at regular intervals that were sort of like seam expansions. In other words, they took where there was one crack and made it two with a new patch of concrete in the middle. Then they "caulked" the new seams with a black tar material to, I assume, weather proof the new seam from water and impact damage. What bugs me most about this is that you can see where the caulking is not on the crack. Is this because: 1) the workers who apply it can't see well enough or follow a straight line?, 2) the caulking moves after it's been applied, by wind or water, in which case, what good is it?, 3) they allowed people to drive on it too soon and the tires moved the caulking? (except that it's not squished flat...). I don't know what happens there, but it obviously is not weather-proofed anymore so the repairs won't last very long. Wouldn't it behoove the crews to do more careful work? Perhaps they should hire "perfectionists" who can fill in a crack completely.

And then there's the holes, grooves, crumbling asphalt, and crevasses that just need a bit of fill-in asphalt to make the roadway smoother and prevent further damage for the time being. I think the Department of Transportation ought to have on the payroll a three-man workcrew in an asphalt truck, just driving the streets and roadways of town, filling in the holes as they go. One guy drives, one guy puts out the orange safety cones, and one guy shovels the asphalt and pats it down. How hard would that be? It would protect some of the road edges and corners that get progressively torn up and would delay major repaving projects for years. It would also make for smoother and safer surfaces for cars and bikes to drive on.

Some of the holes and crevasses I've driven over are simply annoying, some are a potential damage-causer to my undercarriage or tires, but some are downright dangerous to the growing motorcycle and scooter population. Their tire base is not as large to absorb the impact and it's easier to get "thrown" by a good-sized crack.

I know I'm no expert in construction materials or methods. I'm just a driver who tries to swerve carefully and avoid damage to my vehicle, but I can blog my complaints here and see who else agrees...