Are our roads getting worse?

[Bowti]

We just finished our 4,000+ mile snowbird annual adventure, which left us feeling like our roads and interstates are worse than ever. It doesn't look like our government is able to keep up at all with road repairs. No wonder our tire discussions go on for ever.

What do you think?

[mich800]

goducks10 wrote:

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
I'll remind you all, the last administration passed a near Trillion dollar infrastructure bill, that resulted in new offices for Congress, gave GM to the unions, and had them laughing about the jobs not being as shovel ready as they thought, And there is no reason to believe that DC has changed enough in the last decade to do any better, what will it be this time? More bridges to nowhere, and gold plated outhouses?
When it's other peoples money, it doesnt get used frugally.

And we're still paying for the huge tax cuts of the adminn prior to that one.

I don't see any significant changes until this attitude changes. There is more than enough cash/revenue in the system. We don't have a revenue problem, we have an allocation and waste problem.

[goducks10]

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
I'll remind you all, the last administration passed a near Trillion dollar infrastructure bill, that resulted in new offices for Congress, gave GM to the unions, and had them laughing about the jobs not being as shovel ready as they thought, And there is no reason to believe that DC has changed enough in the last decade to do any better, what will it be this time? More bridges to nowhere, and gold plated outhouses?
When it's other peoples money, it doesnt get used frugally.

And we're still paying for the huge tax cuts of the adminn prior to that one.

[ctilsie242]

jplante4 wrote:

Here on Cape Cod, they spend millions on bike paths that get used by a handful of people for 3 months a year and the roads are falling apart.

This may sound political but it's just a fact of democracy. All we have to do is stop voting for incumbents until they start doing what we want. If they don't vote in term limits, let's do it ourselves.

Sounds like Austin. They get hundreds of millions of bonds for road improvements, spend it on bike paths, adding speed bumps, but they have not done a single road improvement on a major highway, since 1995. The only highway improvements were done by a private state contractor for toll roads.

I contrast that to San Antonio, which is bigger, but you can get almost anywhere in the city even at 5:30 rush hour, fairly effectively.

[wa8yxm]

I agree roads and bridges are falling to pieces. recently a PEDESTRIAN bridge in Florida, a brand new bridge I might add, fell down killing people.

Do I have an opinion as to what the problem is: YES
Will I state it here in this forum: NO

[Durb]

Paul Clancy wrote:
Of the western states I have visited regularly the one that gets a prize for great roads .... Oregon. The others need to find out what they are doing and do that. My back thanks you Oregon tax payers.

Any road is smooth when you are sitting still in a traffic jam. It seems like most of Oregon's road budget goes to mass transit. You could take a 30 year old map of Oregon and get along just fine as they have not built any new roads to cope with the influx of people. I drove from Boise to Portland one December. 70 mph in Idaho on dry pavement. Soon as you crossed the river into Oregon it was packed ice nearly to Pendleton. They have plenty of money, allocation is a problem.

On a recent trip I found the roads in Nevada to be in nice condition.

[lakeside013104]

downtheroad wrote:
Maybe the wall will be nice and smooth with no potholes....
It's all about priorities.

Hahahahahah.... now that is funny.

Lakeside

[troubledwaters]

gbopp wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:
450M is chump change and would build about 10-12 miles of new 4 lane highway if you were lucky on flat terrain with no bridges or interchanges.

I agree, 450 million will not go very far building roads. Repairing roads is a different story.
My point was, the PTC is required to generate 450 million for PennDot before it can do anything for the turnpike.
I also agree the PTC needs to be abolished.

WOW! That's one expensive highway, $10M per lane mile. What you using? Gold bricks?

[JIMNLIN]

The last administration did a good job of passing out monies for new bridges and monies for new outdated schools/etc. Many small town schools were 50-75 year old and crumbling. Now they have modern class rooms for the kids.

Yeah our roads are getting worse...and will continue to do so as long as we keep sending the same elected folks back to the swamp in Washington.

[kerrlakeRoo]

I'll remind you all, the last administration passed a near Trillion dollar infrastructure bill, that resulted in new offices for Congress, gave GM to the unions, and had them laughing about the jobs not being as shovel ready as they thought, And there is no reason to believe that DC has changed enough in the last decade to do any better, what will it be this time? More bridges to nowhere, and gold plated outhouses?
When it's other peoples money, it doesnt get used frugally.

[Lynnmor]

When it comes to the price of a road project, reality is out the window. A very small bridge near me was built about eighty years ago by two men and a mule. About ten years ago, PennDOT determined it needed replacement for a cost of 3/4 of a million dollars. The road was shut down all summer and the new bridge was built poorly. Now that new bridge is to be replaced because of the poor construction.

Now about reality; a 3/4 of a million house has land, driveway, five car garage, basement, three bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, heating and air conditioning. The house was built in one summer. Last time I checked the faulty bridge only had a slab of pavement supported by a few beams.

[downtheroad]

Maybe the wall will be nice and smooth with no potholes....
It's all about priorities.

[gbopp]

Ralph Cramden wrote:
450M is chump change and would build about 10-12 miles of new 4 lane highway if you were lucky on flat terrain with no bridges or interchanges.

I agree, 450 million will not go very far building roads. Repairing roads is a different story.
My point was, the PTC is required to generate 450 million for PennDot before it can do anything for the turnpike.
I also agree the PTC needs to be abolished.

[Trekkar]

Think about the fuel you save because you can't go over 45 mph without blowing out tires! It's a plot to force us to save fuel!:)

[Tyler0215]

The roads are worse, but the bike paths are great.

[jdb7566]

We have a government who collect taxes on fuel purchases for the purpose of building roads and repairs of those roads. Then they mandate higher mpg standards, sell less gas, fall short of funds needed, then raise the tax on fuel, and the cycle becomes endless. They also use those funds to finance pet projects, like light rail and bicycle paths, both of which contribute nothing to the tax base for the purpose intended.