If the number and severity of potholes has you distressed this winter, jut wait until next year – it will be worse. That shouldn’t be a surprise. As long as we continue to under-fund the rehabilitation of our transportation network, it is exactly what rational people would expect.
Roads are typically forever. Once we put them down, that’s where they stay – and keeping them in good shape becomes a government agency’s never-ending challenge. New pavements may last 20 or more years before needing rehabilitation. At that time new asphalt surfaces are typically placed to smooth the surface. In spite of these new surfaces, the underlying pavement continues to disintegrate and the road will need to be rehabilitated again in 10-15 years. This is the never-ending cycle.
As the asphalt surface ages, moisture seeps into the cracks and seams. When the temperature drops, the water freezes, expands, and disrupts the bond between the asphalt surface and the pavement below. Traffic dislodges the material and a pothole is born.
As long as we build roads, potholes will be a fact of winter. However this year’s bumper crop is much worse than normal for a reason. Most agencies’ budgets haven’t allowed them to keep up with the deterioration. Streets that should have been resurfaced have not been touched. There are more cracks and seams than ever and potholes are flourishing.
This winter’s potholes are merely the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, we are not on the Titanic and we have numerous warning signs for what lies ahead. Let’s hope we find a way to chart a different course, or conditions will only get worse.
This wouldn't be such a problem if the government would use longer-lasting surfaces that are readily available.
Instead, it chooses to hire the same schmucks every few years to keep making the same repairs.
I noticed some of the massive potholes that formed in the course of this winter were already starting get filled in some spots. Not sure if this is happening on some large scale or if this particular spot just got so bad that they had to do at least something... was the area around the intersection of Kirby and State.
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Glock21 Op/Ed
One thing a government can do is maintain a budget for roads and NOT RAID THE FUND.
This is what happens when we trust the government to maintain roads. We should just lower taxes and expect people to pave their own roads. ><
Sort of interesting that one of the folks mentioned in the Rezko documents is this guy named Bill Cellini. He's in charge of the Illinois Asphalt Pavers Association, which is quite political.
Long-lasting solutions are often what are needed, but what is more important are cost effective solutions. Sometimes that means that you do preventive maintenance so that you don't need to ever get to the point of potholes. (like going to the dentist for a cleaning and check-up so that you don't have to have your teeth rot and require removal).
It boils down to funding. Our current funding methods have not kept up with consturction inflation and have fallen way short of our infrastructure needs. Infrastructure is a core function of govenrment and funds are regularly taken from our infrastructure funds to give to other non-core functions. If government is not able or willing to fund highways, maybe we should look at public-private partnerships and toll roads.
This is what happens when we trust the government to maintain roads.
This is what happens when the road fund is constantly being "borrowed" from, but it never gets paid back! there is plenty of money for roads, roads north of I 80 that is. The Illinois motor fuel tax fund has been easy pickings for years by both parties for the purpose of pet projects of all kinds. KEEP THE ROAD MONEY FOR THE ROADS!!! Maybe we could take some money out of the Illinois Dept. of Corrections budget, they are not doing much better "Correcting" anybody or how about the School Fund?? Why is always the Road Fund? that's where the cash is. In Europe they award road construction contracts to the firm that will guarantee the road will last the longest!, here it's to who will build it the cheapest,
I was being sarcastic, Gregg. But I do agree that we should put more thought into contracting long-lasting roads rather than cheap ones. Surely we know enough math to pay for the cheapest long-term solution rather than end up spending 5 times as much to get cheap roads that constantly need replacing.
Gregg,
Seems like you and I have stated our opinion on this issue before, and amazingly enough our opinions remain the same and contain the same beliefs.
Incidentally, after the Public Works Department for Urbana submitted a very detailed and searing budget to the Urbana City Council and Mayor containing very strong statements that maintenance funds could no longer be "raided" because the 11th hour had been reached and maintenance issues would rear there heads and soon, the City Council and the Mayor applauded them for the Budget and searing report and approved the budget.
Then they promptly diverted some of the funds into political plum projects and again shorted the maintenance budget.
To that end, I am, and shall always remain;
Rex Bradfield
Yes Rex, We have had this discussion before. Illinois has long been in love with concrete pavement. Illinois is the home of the largest manufacturer of paving equipment, Caterpillar and what used to be Barber-Greene, which is now part of CAT, also the large steel manufacturing industry that is essential to the construction of reinforced concrete pavement once called Illinois home. This all started in the 30's and 40's, back in the good old days roads were made with concrete you can't even buy today. It was mixed on site and was made to last forever, there is pavement west of Monticello on old IL. Rt. 47 that is 65 years old that is in fairly good condition. Most States have switched to using asphalt to pave roads, one has only go to Missouri and see that most of the Interstate highway are now asphalt, It's cheaper, more easily recycled, A lot of western states have also gotten away from concrete, Colorado, Wyoming are two that I have recently been to. As costs increased quality was compromised, mixes were changed, also the replacement cycle was greatly extended resulting in pavement failure, cracks, potholes, A lot of this is caused by the failure of the base. A perfect example of this is Kirby Ave. in Champaign, concrete moving under a thin overlay of asphalt. It amazes me that Champaign will have every snow plow they can get on the road, but 3 days after the storm the potholes are not being repaired, I realize hot asphalt is not available in the winter but a winter cold mix is available, why is it not being used? $$$$ it's $80 a ton but it does work! IDOT uses it. If you see a pothole call METCAD and report it, or better yet call the Mayor at home and tell Him or Her!
Fixing potholes is a waste of taxpayers money. Slow down!
From what I understand, concrete (also called Portland Cement Concrete) is harder to screw up than (bituminous) asphalt. Both asphalt and concrete mixes require a certain amount of air, and if you don't have the right amount of air or the voids are too large, the pavement won't last as long. But asphalt is less forgiving than concrete - if it's not exactly right, you get big problems, like potholes in bad weather.
Wayward - You are correct in that there are 2 primary materials that can be used to make roads, concrete and asphalt. Both have thier benefits and drawbacks. I can show you specific examples of where each was used properly and provided long life and where each was put down with problems and failed. The issue is not asphalt vs. concrete it is an issue of infrastructure investment and how we make that investment. Don't forget that our transportation network is the backbone of our economy. Most everyone travels to work. Food travels through our network to get to our tables. Everything that you consume is on our transportation network multiple times from its origin to our use.