have the skills to pave roads been lost?

[Fanatical Meat]

Semi serious question. I noticed yesterday driving on a freshly repaved road it sucks, manhole covers far to recessed, two lane road with a bumpy seam in the middle. Then I noticed similar work in a different area that was repaved 2 years ago.
When I first started to drive a friend of mines road was repaved I remember it being very smooth to drive on. My city is working on a large stretch of road it better be smooth.

 

[highland145]

The reasl question is does Olds know you got out?

 

[CraKaJaX]

The reasl question is does Olds know you got out?

this question is reasl.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The reasl question is does Olds know you got out?

The basement was over run by spammers I escaped. The basement is currently closed.

 

[rudder]

It is being paved by the lowest bidder.

 

[sdifox]

Semi serious question. I noticed yesterday driving on a freshly repaved road it sucks, manhole covers far to recessed, two lane road with a bumpy seam in the middle. Then I noticed similar work in a different area that was repaved 2 years ago.
When I first started to drive a friend of mines road was repaved I remember it being very smooth to drive on. My city is working on a large stretch of road it better be smooth.

Maybe it is missing the top coat still?

 

[feralkid]

Semi serious question. I noticed yesterday driving on a freshly repaved road it sucks, manhole covers far to recessed, two lane road with a bumpy seam in the middle. Then I noticed similar work in a different area that was repaved 2 years ago.
When I first started to drive a friend of mines road was repaved I remember it being very smooth to drive on. My city is working on a large stretch of road it better be smooth.

It's gone the way of grammar and punctuation.

 

[TwiceOver]

It's gone the way of grammar and punctuation.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Fanatical Meat]

It's gone the way of grammar and punctuation.

I know I'm a lazy poster

 

[highland145]

this question is reasl.

Reasons...

 

[Anubis]

no the money to pay people to do it properly is what has vanished


the manhole covers are normally raised up after the fact BTW

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I know I'm a lazy poster

searching for "lazy poster":

 

[BoomerD]

no the money to pay people to do it properly is what has vanished


the manhole covers are normally raised up after the fact BTW

Yep. USUALLY, they will go back after the asphalt is set, cut out around the manhole, put in a concrete ring, then patch around it. Too difficult to pave around the ring when it sticks up 2-4" above grade. It can be done, but it's easier to do it afterwards.

 

[clamum]

There's a lot of those sunken manholes around here, and not on freshly paved roads either. Fucking annoying as shit and if there's traffic around you can't swerve.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Semi serious question. I noticed yesterday driving on a freshly repaved road it sucks, manhole covers far to recessed, two lane road with a bumpy seam in the middle. Then I noticed similar work in a different area that was repaved 2 years ago.
When I first started to drive a friend of mines road was repaved I remember it being very smooth to drive on. My city is working on a large stretch of road it better be smooth.

Generally there is a first phase that leaves it as described, and then they come back and finish it with another layer. The first time I saw this I was like..wow...lowest bidder my ass.

 

[Micrornd]

No, but the ability to inspect and reject poor workmanship has apparently been lost.
Now apparently we settle for "good enough" in this country.

 

[lxskllr]

Shitty work is usually done in-house by the government. Contract work(what you describe) is generally pretty good. I'm guessing they aren't finished.

 

[rh71]

Yeah I would say whoever did that job just sucked. They just did a few roads here including the entire length of a parkway and it is absolutely perfect - smooth as glass. And we bitch and moan at county workers here ALL THE TIME because they are paid too much. Nobody is praising them publicly of course, but we're all enjoying the roads a lot more.

 

[IronWing]

WRT road work the question in my fair city is, "Where does incompetence end and corruption begin?" One intersection down the road from my house has been torn up and rebuilt (not just paving but curb and gutter as well) four times in fifteen years and still is crappy. A two mile section of a six lane artery has been under reconstruction for years. I had to drive it last night when it occurred to me that major interstates have been built from scratch in less time than this two mile stretch has taken.

 

[NoCreativity]

Semi serious question. I noticed yesterday driving on a freshly repaved road it sucks, manhole covers far to recessed, two lane road with a bumpy seam in the middle. Then I noticed similar work in a different area that was repaved 2 years ago.
When I first started to drive a friend of mines road was repaved I remember it being very smooth to drive on. My city is working on a large stretch of road it better be smooth.

Most of the repaved roads around here suck. Same as you mention. They usually fix man hole covers but most new pavement is pretty wavy or bumpy. It's like they have forgotten how to smooth out the concrete/asphalt. They just lay it and run.

Line painting is atrocious. Three lanes wide and none of them the same width. Good luck going around a curve. Lines don't actually follow the curve of the road and lanes get narrower and wider as you go.

 

[Jerem]

Yep. USUALLY, they will go back after the asphalt is set, cut out around the manhole, put in a concrete ring, then patch around it. Too difficult to pave around the ring when it sticks up 2-4" above grade. It can be done, but it's easier to do it afterwards.

This. If your manhole is to grade first then you wind up dragging the screed over the top of it likely damaging the screed, or pushing it off center, or the roller guy breaks the edges when he goes over it, or....

 

[Fanatical Meat]

WRT road work the question in my fair city is, "Where does incompetence end and corruption begin?" One intersection down the road from my house has been torn up and rebuilt (not just paving but curb and gutter as well) four times in fifteen years and still is crappy. A two mile section of a six lane artery has been under reconstruction for years. I had to drive it last night when it occurred to me that major interstates have been built from scratch in less time than this two mile stretch has taken.

This is kind of what I was saying. My friends road decades ago used to get flooded and major frost heaves, the road simply didn't last until they did a huge summer long project that dug down about 6-8' to replace the clay with something more loose and added more street drainage. I drove by his old house a few months ago and the road was still in great shape 25+ years later. Yes it had some patches done to it but overall it was in good shape and pretty smooth.

 

[Ronstang]

People are lazy and stupid these days and governments cut as many corners as possible so they can use our money to benefit themselves as much as possible....what do you expect?

 

[twinrider1]

Yep. USUALLY, they will go back after the asphalt is set, cut out around the manhole, put in a concrete ring, then patch around it. Too difficult to pave around the ring when it sticks up 2-4" above grade. It can be done, but it's easier to do it afterwards.

Interesting, my street was just repaved and parts of it suck.

Here they really chewed up the driveway curb cuts when they ground off the old pavement. No word if they're going to do anything about it. And the new pavement is nearly 2" higher now, so we get little lakes in front of our driveways now. Can't wait for winter to see how that plays out.

 

[Thump553]

It is being paved by the lowest bidder.

It's always been done by the lowest bidder. I've noticed the same thing as OP (brand new repaved roads wavy, not flat, bumpy, noisy and noticeable ridges between the courses of asphalt) especially being much worse in the last 5-10 years.

The divided highway I take to work has been repaved EVERY summer for the last four years. It doesn't get all that much traffic and it still is a lousy ride. I have no idea why they keep repaving it unless it is to pump up my blood pressure because of the frequent traffic jams the construction causes.

Personally I blame the inspectors-they must be in the pocket of the contractor or just don't give a sh*t.