Rural PA roads may be a Crock

I have seen a Tow Truck with same type of failure.. Rusted Frame.

bad roads cause suspension failures.. tire failures... wheel failures..

frame failures are from Rust, past Accidents, Overloading.

my opinion.

We traveled highway 6 across northern PA 2 years ago and it was the worst road on our 7,500 mile trip.

Pirate wrote:
We shake our heads in disgust every time we cross over into PA from MD or DE on back roads. The PA roads are horrible. Some of the highest taxes I have seen and the worse roads.

As an someone who has lived in 2 of 3 locations, and driven in all 3, if MD and DE had the thaw/freeze cycles that PA does thief roads would be in the same shape.

In fact, when the winters in MD match intensity of PA ( as they have twice in 10 years), the roads fail exactly the same way.

Easily observable...

We shake our heads in disgust every time we cross over into PA from MD or DE on back roads. The PA roads are horrible. Some of the highest taxes I have seen and the worse roads.

OK, I'm glad that there was a number of responses to this topic. The main reason for the post was to bring awareness to possible hidden damage to a frame. I welded mine in four places due to a poor design and less than perfect road conditions.

In PA, a heavy truck, like the one pictured, is required to be inspected twice a year by a state approved inspection station. If the frame had serious rust or there was visual evidence of metal fatigue, then inspections are a waste. I am not a fan of PA inspections because of the many times that my vehicles were worse after the incompetent inspectors fooled with them. My suggestion is to craw under there and look closely for developing problems, or get someone you trust to do it.

I do agree that the likely cause was metal fatigue. The culvert pipe caused a depression in the road surface, but it had multiple poorly done patches that looked like a small child was at work. The rough patches was probably the cause.

Horizon170 wrote:
Not sure if anyone but me does this but I look for OIL spots in the lane. That is an indicator of a BUMP/GULLY just preceding that oil spot. You may have a chance to slow down.
Marvin

Yep, I learned that many years ago. The nasty bumps have scrape marks. I really slow down for them..

Not sure if anyone but me does this but I look for OIL spots in the lane. That is an indicator of a BUMP/GULLY just preceding that oil spot. You may have a chance to slow down.
Marvin

I hate the PA interstate roads.
I'll be driving them from one end to the other tomorrow and will be glad when I am through.

The state and its drivers are a bunch of hypocrites!

On Rt 81, they have these so called "safety zones" where the fines are doubled. On many of them the posted speed limit is 55 and every driver with PA plates is going 75 and 80.
I try to stay in the right hand lane, but there is always some jerk that will come up behind me and start blinking is lights on and off.

I guess they want me to drive on the shoulder !

jack L

The northern states road also have freezing and thawing that complicates the problem of condition. Every spring you can count on potholes all over the place. Frost comes out of the ground when it starts thawing and does a number on the roads. Takes many weeks in 1 district to try to patch them, let alone resurface anything.

gbopp wrote:
Like many states, Pennsylvania's highway infrastructure is is poor condition. Many roads and bridges need rebuilt/replaced, including the Interstate system.

I wonder if the honey truck weakened or cracked the frame from bouncing along the back roads and the sunken culvert finished the job?..........................

I have to agree with that part.

I think PA roads are no better and no worse than any other state. The U.S. as a whole will never catch up with road maintenance. I believe it is physically impossible and a financial improbability. Just plain too much traffic beating up too many miles of roads to keep properly maintained.

The original AlCan highway, although very crude, was BUILT in less than 12 months. Today our government bureaucrats can't even engineer and design a single bridge in that time.

And of course almost everyone complains about road reconstruction and traffic delays that come with securing better roads. :R