C8 Corvette Reveal

That's more of a money thing. Like most things, the government agencies don't really have any incentive to turn a profit, so they work slower and with less quality. Using independent contractors gets the job done cheaper, faster, and with less overhead because the state doesn't have to purchase and maintain all the equipment.

 

It’s terrible up there. They’ll pave a section and within two months it’s breaking apart. Whatever material they use, I’ve not seen elsewhere in the country.

The potholes are the largest I’ve seen in the country. They use “patch in a bag”. That crap doesn’t even harden and just comes right back out. The hole will be empty the next day and the contents of the bag scattered along the shoulder.

 

DOT workers?

 

How far is the pothole from an asphalt or concrete batch plant?

 

My brother bent a wheel on his 2015 Stingray, Michigan roads which explains a lot.

 

Yep. They’re AZ Dept of Transportation (AZDOT) workers; not paving contractors like most states use for repaves.

 

They had an asphalt operation in the median, all summer through winter of 2017. Didn’t matter.

We have city, county, township, and state yards all within ~1/2mi of one another, here. They all have this goopy road patch that cures and hardens. And, unfortunately, they’ve all bought these stupid Total Patcher setups which just result in a new bump and scattered gravel, because they don’t bother to screed and broom off the excess, out of laziness. Some of the stuff these guys do causes one to shake their head. It’s a constant topic at street and sewer meetings.

 

I was wondering...y'all have far more open spaces than we do on the east coast. The local batch plant is 15-20 miles away for asphalt. Concrete offers more options here. Out there, they would be significantly further apart limiting material options. You can only move a hot mix ot a batch of concrete so far before the batch starts deteriorating. Unless there is a major pave/repave, patch materials are probably not going to be ideal.

 

Yeah I guess I should have said the phoenix valley. I have driven a fair amount up there but it was all heavy trucking in a moving company so the wheels could handle potholes.

 

I’m talking Flagstaff and points west toward Williams. Plenty close to facilities.

Not so much. There’s always trucks with blowouts, on the shoulders, including our own trucks. I started putting my left wheels in the center of the lane and running the right side on the shoulder, trying to straddle the worst.

 

The asphalt not lasting is due to three things.

1) State DOT not revising their minimum base and pavement standards to meet a higher performance criteria based on the climate/usage.

2) Government entities always go for the lowest qualified bid price, so someone at DOT gave qualifications to bottom of the barrel contractors.

3) Someone from DOT or CEI services not doing ample inspection/reviewing core sample results for performance.

As a civil engineer, I see one and/or all of the above often, especially with DOT based projects.

 

I must say the companies that pave NYC highways are absolutely terrible. I don't know how they get away with it.

Brand new asphalt with visible seam separation, and well after a winter, that's where most of the potholes start originating. I'm like who approved this?

Also brand new redone roads with sinks and depressions after a month or two that can't handle the truck traffic. why re-do it in the first place if it looks like it did 5 years ago.

 

That's because the government entity is too cheap to pay and/or contracted civil engineer is too lazy to have core samples done prior to repave to see if there are underlying soil/base issues.

Mill and overlays are great and cheap options if the base and subsurface is fine, but there is nothing worse than spending a ton of money to repave a road only to find out there is a base/subsurface issue resulting in the road being shit shortly afterward.

 

PA is just as bad...or worse. And it takes forever for the work to get done.

 

A delay in production....https://www.hagerty.com/articles-vi...ium=email&utm_content=Daily_News_Friday_Nov_8

 

What choice do any of the DOT's have but to go with the lowest bid? If they paid a top tier company the money it would take to do the job right, some politician would be raging about the "waste of taxpayer money" rather than the long term benefit of proper materials and construction.

 

I mean yeah, the taxpayer doesn't see why government is spending extra when they could do it for cheaper. So it's a cycle. Can't just blame politicians alone. Tell the people it's ok too.

Sent from my smatrfone

 

Most of the time it’s the same guys doing the work regardless of which contractor gets the bid. They still hire mostly the same subs and get their laborers from the same local union halls. That’s where the issues come from. None of those guys are direct employees so there’s really no accountability.

 

Not shocking. The last front engine just at rolled off the line and they have a lot of work to do to get ready for the c8. It’s a pretty big retool of that plant. They are scrambling like crazy to build up more vehicles in the proto shop right now.

 

I can certainly see your point on that. We've only got one company in my area, so it's guaranteed who gets the contract. Anyone who has traveled here for a football game can tell you how difficult it has been for the last three years.