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A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

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Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#71

Post by drspacemonkey »

zentiggr wrote: post #24

> Nichols said the AMIR “has great potential” to extend the life of roads, and “save significant taxpayer dollars.” In 2016, an MTO analysis found that the province would save $50 million annually if roads on the MTOs highways could last even one year longer. And there you go... goes against the contractors' interests to use more efficient means, so this compactor's use will have to be mandated by city governments wh…

I wonder if that could be resolved by the government offering an annual bonus for every road that requires no pothole maintenance. If the bonus were bigger than the profit they'd make from filling in the pothole, it would be free money for the contractor + a savings for the government because they don't have to pay to fix something that isn't broken.

Mostly, I wonder how different the world would be if there was an incentive to build things that don't break.

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#72

Post by 3pt14159 »

aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #63
pg_bot wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that lack of adoption is likely a discovery and design problem rather than an economic one. In a free market other people can choose to enter into the contracting business. If I have a leg up on my competition (paving better roads for the same cost) I will eventually out compete people who fail to adapt to the new method. This doesn't happen immediately, but you can't fool everyone forever if there trul…

Actually in this case the answer is fairly simple: it's corruption. Most people living in Ontario or Quebec know that the construction industry there is dominated by the mob. You gotta be real careful not to step over the wrong people's feet, especially if you're going after public contracts. So, suffice to say, there is little real competition because most new competitors get literally threatened for their lives if…

I don’t know about the rest of Ontario, but this is 100% not true for the Toronto area. I used to be in the industry and I saw something shady only once and it was very, very minor. My brother is also a higher up at Ellis Don and he complains about concrete trucks getting stuck in traffic, not mob grift.

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#74

Post by teh_klev »

yousir wrote: post #27
woliveirajr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put water inside the hole, run over it with a car that will put some pressure on it, and it'll fill all those small cracks inside the asphalt. Repeat many times. Also, asphalt isn't solid, it get thinner when the sun is high, deforming every time a car runs over it in the summer. South of south America, more or less equivalent to Florida: no freezing during winter and not that hot during summer, but everytime there's…

> South of south America, more or less equivalent to Florida Are you calling North America "America", and then go on and call Florida "south America", as if there isn't such a place in the world as South America? I do not approve of this North America-centric view of the world at all.

The parent post by thowawaylalala already mentions Florida, so I think what woliveirajr means by "south of South America, more or less equivalent to Florda" is at a latitude in South America with the equivalent climate as Florida, rather than suggesting that Florida is geographically "south America".

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#75

Post by teh_klev »

yousir wrote: post #69
mitchty wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, that might be true for people living in the US but, and I might be going out on a limb here, it might not be so true for others. And for a comment referencing Florida, is it charitable to apply something for continents to your stated interpretation? Principle of charity says not. Specifically who refers to America/Americans in English as meaning "People who live on the continents in North and South America"?…

Time to diffuse this. > I respect that you have a position here Thank you. I appreciate you saying so. > but frankly its a silly way Yes, I was being silly. But only because if you bundle South America and North America and then go on to call the south of that super-continent "Florida", well, a globalist such as myself has to object.

diffuse => defuse?

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#76

Post by stevenwoo »

abacate wrote: post #64

It does not solve anything, just pushes the problem a little further.

I recall there was an article on the front page of hacker news not long ago that argued that it was a better use of public money to not pave every road and to let some roads just be dirt roads because the maintenance cost was not justified by the amount of road traffic. This was not the article but similar to it: https://www.wired.com/2016/07/cash-strapped-towns-un-paving-...

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#77

Post by jrs235 »

In the North, it seems the interstates and highways tend to get cracks across the entire road at relatively even intervals. I suspect they form where they lay down the rebar supports/holders. It makes sense to me that cracks/"potholes" would form there as it seems that at that point compression of some sort would occur from the weight of vehicles causing the asphalt/road to crumble. While more work to initially build and lay... What would happen if they laid the supports and rebar down like elongated tile or vinyl siding on a house... Never having adjacent pieces ending near each other?

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#78

Post by glibgil »

jrs235 wrote: post #77

In the North, it seems the interstates and highways tend to get cracks across the entire road at relatively even intervals. I suspect they form where they lay down the rebar supports/holders. It makes sense to me that cracks/"potholes" would form there as it seems that at that point compression of some sort would occur from the weight of vehicles causing the asphalt/road to crumble. While more work to initially build…

It could also be from swelling of the rebar from salt and melting ice

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#79

Post by allannienhuis »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #38
CoffeeDregs wrote: post #28

I was literally wondering about this question the other day. It's 2018; we can make CPUs with 12nm features but we can't make a long lasting asphalt? Fascinating: Nichols said the AMIR “has great potential” to extend the life of roads, and “save significant taxpayer dollars.” In 2016, an MTO analysis found that the province would save $50 million annually if roads on the MTOs highways could last even one year longer.…

> Asphalt resurfacing simply involves applying new asphalt over the old. Damaged areas are filled with fresh asphalt, and a steamroller goes over the entire surface to yield smooth, even pavement. Florida native, I can tell you this is very temporary. Big chunks will eventually come up and you can see the previous pavement underneath. I'm assuming that between the heat here and the cracks mentioned in the original ar…

Up here in Canada, I've universlly seen them grind up the very top layer of the old asphalt before laying down the next layer. I presume that's to improve adhesion. Can't say I've seen many places where obvious delamination of the layers happens. Are they not taking that step in florida?

Re: A transportation engineer has a simple solution to potholes: pave better roads

#80

Post by allannienhuis »

jrs235 wrote: post #77

In the North, it seems the interstates and highways tend to get cracks across the entire road at relatively even intervals. I suspect they form where they lay down the rebar supports/holders. It makes sense to me that cracks/"potholes" would form there as it seems that at that point compression of some sort would occur from the weight of vehicles causing the asphalt/road to crumble. While more work to initially build…

I've never seen rebar on asphalt highways. Do they top the concrete highways with asphalt where you are?
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