Indiana Highway RV Torture Test

[broark01]

I apologize to any Indianans that might take offense to the following.

In my experience, year in and year out, over decades, Indiana has the worst highway to bridge transitions in America. Worse than MI, worse than WI, worse than IL, worse than OH worse than anywhere. It is like the highway engineers do not talk to the bridge engineers and they guess where everything is going to line up.

Invariably and without exception, on IN highways north/south bound or east/west bound, the bridge transitions are kidney, truck and trailer pounding rough. The approach to the bridges are designed like giant washboard ripples that get everything oscillating up and down driving the truck/trailer suspension system into the dampers on the frame. Then your momentarily airborne before hitting the bridge and bottoming everything out again. With adrenaline flowing I check the rearview mirror to see if anything major fell off. But before I get my eyes back on the road in front of me there a similar set of undulations before being launched into the air and landing on the highway.

After a few hours of this Evel Knievel RVing it is time for an Aleve and to check for equipment failures (broken axles, springs, hangers, bolts or missing accessories from the top of the trailer). Not to mention checking the cabinets and shelves inside the trailer that have come open or failed completely.

Come on INDOT, figure this out.

[roadtrek_flyer_]

Indiana Tollroad is way better than I-94 across Michigan. We traveled from northern Illinois in May and used I-94 as the shortest way to Detroit. We had a terribly bumpy ride despite slowing down to 50 mph. When we returned to Illinois we headed south on I-75 out of Detroit to the Indiana toll road to avoid 94. There are tolls, but the ride was so much better. When we got home we discovered the rear suspension airbags were displaced and now have expensive repairs to look forward to.

Just in passing, the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village was great, and the Edsel Ford Estate was well worth seeing. There is a lot to see and do in the Detroit area.

2006 Itasca Cambria 26A

[jnharley]

Love the part about the bugs in Indiana. So true and one must look out for deer after dark with their bug encrusted windshield. We do not find the roads in Indiana any worse than anywhere else. By the way, Indiana has some of the highest fuel taxes in the nation-gas is $.57.09 per gal and diesel is $.74.21 per gallon. And then there are the "bait and switch" diesel prices because at truck stops, the diesel fuel price is for tax exempt trucks. Pull up to the pump and get a big surprise and not all stations advertise their price as tax exempt. Stations selling auto diesel usually advertise the taxed price.

[DutchmenSport]

I just traveled across I-70 from East of Indianapolis to St. Louis. Then St. Louis to near Branson, Missouri. Then to Kansas City, Mo, then straight across I-70 back to NE of Indianapolis.

After traveling straight through Indianapolis, (which was unbelievably horrible), I jumped on US 40 and followed it as close as I could to Illinois. I'll NEVER take I-70 again! US 40 was marvelous compared to I-70 in Indiana!

In Illinois, the roads were pretty good. Missouri had the absolute best ... everywhere! Marvelous!

Then finally back to Indiana and we jumped on US 40 again, turned North again, then hit highway 32 to come back to Anderson.

I was hoping the I-65 route to Bloomington was improved. They did all that resurfacing, and sad to see it's all torn up so quick again! There again, it only takes 24 hours after they've completely refinished a road in Indiana and it's baby butt smooth and then it's dug up again.

[soren]

john&bet wrote:
No offense taken. We all have opinions on everything. I for one have been driving/towing on Indiana roads since 2000. I have never experienced the things you describe in your post. And yes I have experienced rough roads in almost every state we have been in at one point or another including yours. Have a nice day.

They must hand out those rose colored glasses when you renew your driver's license in Indiana, LOL. We just headed west from PA. to Montana. Pennsylvania has greatly increased their gas taxes, is now spending a ton on rebuilding and resurfacing roads, and repairing and replacing the thousands of bridges we have that are in trouble. For the first time in my lifetime, I can honestly say that PA's roads are good and steadily improving. Ohio was a lot better than in previous years. Indiana, specifically the toll road, is sadly, a national disgrace. To actually have the stones to charge motorists a considerable sum, to travel Indiana toll road, while allowing it to basically self-destruct, with little evidence of repair, and ZERO evidence of actual improvement, is simply unbelievable. The service plazas are disgusting relics of half a century ago. That is the ones that are still standing, as some are now just piles of rubble, and garbage strewn lots. Obviously Illinois is no better, and Wisconsin and Minnesota are only slightly improved. For the first time in two decades of making this trip, you can actually close your eyes an feel when you get to South Dakota, since the motorhome is no longer porpoising up and down on the lifted, rocking slabs, and slamming into cracked up slabs and ridiculous bridge transitions. We put about 20K a year on our motorhome, traveling all over North America. I can assure you that the poor condition of Indiana roads is far from a matter of opinion.

[broark01]

I have not checked post in a while and really enjoyed the responses. I do apologize that Indianans refer to themselves as Hoosiers :-). I am from Oklahoma and do not call myself a Sooner (well maybe when they win).

We have not had the opportunity to go up to the northeast so thanks for the warning that the roads are worse there.

Love the list of the ways to drive in Indiana.

[Whaler]

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.

[Lumpty]

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.

[hotpepperkid]

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

[paulj]

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

[paulj]

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.

[jswat]

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.

[camperforlife]

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.

[Veebyes]

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.

[paulj]

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.