Indiana Highway RV Torture Test

DutchmenSport wrote:
Ah .... com'on folks. Indiana ain't THAT bad! Don't ya'll know how to drive in Indiana? Here's the instructions:

1. Drive slow! Bumps don't hurt as much that way.

2. Don't drive interstates, you'll save having to eventually replace your tires as county and state highways are MUCH smoother.

3. Never, never, never cross a rail road track at the suggested speed limit, or you'll end up in a ditch and 4 flat tires! Always slow WAY down and creep over them, even on main highways, you just never know how uneven they will be.

4. All newly repaved roads will be dug up within 24 hours after being completed and what remains is a gigantic bump, or hole, or crack, or something that will break the cabinets from the wall of your camper if you hit them at full speed.

5. Never drive at night in the summer. Your windshield will be so splattered with bugs, you won't be able to see through it any more. Very dangerous for on-coming automobiles, who also have their windows blocked by dead bugs. And oh ... don' turn on the windshield wipers or you'll just have pull over. Solution? Drive in reverse and use the back-up camera on your bumper!

6. The best driving experience is when you get behind a farm combine and can't pass. Actually, the ride is pretty nice then!

7. Or, just avoid Indiana altogether. I've been complaining and warning about our horrible interstates for years now.

And to think, there are actually some folks on these forums who think I am silly for bungie cording my cabinet doors and drawers so they won't come open ... and I live in Indiana! Well, maybe they are correct. Bungie cords on the doors and drawers don't do much when the entire cabinet is laying on the floor!

Amen.

All bridges have expansion joints. These allow for contraction and expansion of the bridge with weather changes. But they must also allow for changes in the bridge loading as vehicles drive on/off the bridge. But with the movement they all wear out and need to be replaced.

In recent years Washington DOT has had a number of major expansion joint replacement projects. Doing so on a busy interstate requires a lot of planning. To minimize disruptions they tend to do the work on weekends and nights.

Here's a description of a recent project replacing 41 joints on a section of I5 north of Seattle. That's in just a couple of miles. The expected life of the new joints is 25 years.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5/unionsteamboatebeybridgerpr/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/albums/72157651361592146

Expansion joints are problem with any bridge, but more so on heavily traveled interstates with all those overpasses.


Photos of a large expansion joint replacement on I90 bridge

I don't know about Indiana, but here in Washington we have this little thing called competitive bidding. I also suspect that major projects that require Federal Highway dollars are subject to Federal review, both for design and execution. If there is buddy rigging, it is more likely to occur in small jurisdictions, towns and counties, than at the state level.

Even new expansion joints can fail

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28715151

In January a cold snap caused a new cable stayed bridge in Ontario to contract and broke bolts holding the expansion joint together. That end of the bridge lifted several feet. The temporary fix was to load that end with tons of concrete barrier blocks. A longer term fix uses a tie down rods. Evaluation of the bolts is on going. As is the construction of the rest of the bridge.

Bridge transitions are bad everywhere. Best trick I have learned is not to drive the track that everyone else drives. Take every transition off to the right where there is far less surface wear.

Yep, our less than wise Governor takes the federal road dollars that he gets, puts them in the bank and brags about the surplus while motorist like the OP avoids our state like the plague rather than come back.

The stretch of I70 near my home town, mile marks 149 to 156 will literally destroy an automobile. Car parts, wheels tire scraps are strewn all along this stretch. Major crashes causing complete shutdown are a weekly occurrence from people losing control from swerving to miss a hole or losing a wheel.

They are finally doing repair work on this stretch but only at night so I really question the quality of repairs done in the dark.

Bridge transitions are terrible almost everywhere in this country. It does not have to be. I spend several weeks each year driving in Europe and on their new highways there are no joints where the bridge meets the highway pavement. I believe it is a design problem, our roads are designed to b enough.

jswat wrote:
... I spend several weeks each year driving in Europe and on their new highways there are no joints where the bridge meets the highway pavement....

Is this just an observation at highway speeds? Or something I can find documented? I doubt if they have overcome the differential expansion issues. The joints though might be more sophisticated and smoother, maybe even hidden by a flexible surface.

http wrote:
Hard to believe but true: variations in temperature and traffic on large bridges may change their length by the meter. This is why bridge ends are equipped with flexible roadway joints that can expand or contract.

camperforlife wrote:
...
They are finally doing repair work on this stretch but only at night so I really question the quality of repairs done in the dark.

Highway resurfacing by Washington State Dept of Transportation, on Flickr

I agree that Indiana has some of the worst especially I-70 but OK is a close 2nd. I came across NE one time and the sign as you inter the state said rough road and a trucker came on the radio and said the sign should have said rough road next 450 miles so time to time every state has roads that will jar your fillings loose

One thing Indiana should be ashamed of is the condition of the I-80/I-90 Indiana Toll Road. Monetized back in 2006 to a private lessor; that entity went bust and now on operator #2. Just drove the full length roundtrip last week and finally some resurfacing is being done. Bridge transitions are bad, but the service area pavement in the two that I stopped at are surface of the moon minefields.

The newly finished I-69 from Bloomington to Evansville is the worst I have seen. Some joints have already been rebuilt and some are marked with warning signs. This section of road has not yet been open for a year.