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Why do road construction crews often do a half-*** job?

J

jtvang125

Diamond Member
I'm not talking about when they come out and repave a whole section of a road. They actually do a decent job there so I can appreciate that. What I'm talking about is when they come and tear up the road, digging for pipes or whatever. When they're done they just toss some asphalt back on and maybe stomp on it a little. They either put too much and it becomes a speed bump or not enough and it's a damn pothole.
 
Because the work was done by a crew pushed too hard to be fast, with no pride in their work. If one of my crews did shitty work like you described, I would have them back digging it up and fixing it until they got it right.
 
There is a reason why there is the phrase "good enough for government work". Im many cases the guys who patch the hole after digging it, work for some state/local gov.
 
Because it's very hard to match it up perfectly.
Asphalt that has been there a while is compacted very well by the initial installation and the constant traffic on it.
When you cut out a section and re-pave it, it is nearly impossible to achieve the same amount of compaction. To little and you have the bump. Too much and you have a dip.
If they leave it at the same level as the existing asphalt so that it is perfectly smooth, the traffic will continue to compact it leaving a dip.
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Because it's very hard to match it up perfectly.
Asphalt that has been there a while is compacted very well by the initial installation and the constant traffic on it.
When you cut out a section and re-pave it, it is nearly impossible to achieve the same amount of compaction. To little and you have the bump. Too much and you have a dip.
If they leave it at the same level as the existing asphalt so that it is perfectly smooth, the traffic will continue to compact it leaving a dip.
Click to expand...

Sounds about right.
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Because it's very hard to match it up perfectly.
Asphalt that has been there a while is compacted very well by the initial installation and the constant traffic on it.
When you cut out a section and re-pave it, it is nearly impossible to achieve the same amount of compaction. To little and you have the bump. Too much and you have a dip.
If they leave it at the same level as the existing asphalt so that it is perfectly smooth, the traffic will continue to compact it leaving a dip.
Click to expand...

Very true, and even worse in areas of the country where you get frost/frost-heaves in the winter. New asphalt is torn right up when that happens.


BTW, why do you no longer have an icon, just "Authors Icon" as a link?
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Because it's very hard to match it up perfectly.
Asphalt that has been there a while is compacted very well by the initial installation and the constant traffic on it.
When you cut out a section and re-pave it, it is nearly impossible to achieve the same amount of compaction. To little and you have the bump. Too much and you have a dip.
If they leave it at the same level as the existing asphalt so that it is perfectly smooth, the traffic will continue to compact it leaving a dip.
Click to expand...

True dat.

Also, another huge factor is because the city/county lets them. IMO, they should be required to return after a set period of time and fix the discrepency, (whether too high or too low) but that'll never happen...

What pisses me off is when they pave a road, get it all nice and smooth...then some dipshit contractor comes and tears it up to fix a pipe, install a new pipe, what ever...couldn't that have been done BEFORE they paved the dammed road? 😉



Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
union
Click to expand...

you have a valid point...odds are, the union contractor does a far better job in compacting the fill under the asphalt patchm then takes the time to roll and compact the patch to match as closely as possible given the conditions...
 
Originally posted by: Platypus
so they'll have a job to do in a few months obviously.. that's how road crews work in this country
Click to expand...
Indeed. Do a lousy job the first time. Then, since it's government, they don't hold anyone accountable, so instead of it being fixed under some kind of warranty or guarantee, the road crew gets paid to fix their shoddy work. There's a lot of money to be made in perpetuating a problem.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Originally posted by: Platypus
so they'll have a job to do in a few months obviously.. that's how road crews work in this country
Click to expand...
Indeed. Do a lousy job the first time. Then, since it's government, they don't hold anyone accountable, so instead of it being fixed under some kind of warranty or guarantee, the road crew gets paid to fix their shoddy work. There's a lot of money to be made in perpetuating a problem.
Click to expand...

yep
 
Often, what you think is a lousy job of paving is not paving at all, but cold mix. This is a temporary patch material that can be placed and handled cold as the name implies.
Cold mix is used to allow the trench to naturally settle or compact, and to allow the contractor to consolidate the asphalt patching jobs from many trenches for one good dry day. Asphalt does not patch well under rainy conditions.
If the government in charge of the road system employs proper standards, the resulting patch should be relatively smooth to drive, and hold up well. Nothing will be as smooth as continuous paving, however.
 
Originally posted by: Sphexi
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Because it's very hard to match it up perfectly.
Asphalt that has been there a while is compacted very well by the initial installation and the constant traffic on it.
When you cut out a section and re-pave it, it is nearly impossible to achieve the same amount of compaction. To little and you have the bump. Too much and you have a dip.
If they leave it at the same level as the existing asphalt so that it is perfectly smooth, the traffic will continue to compact it leaving a dip.
Click to expand...

Very true, and even worse in areas of the country where you get frost/frost-heaves in the winter. New asphalt is torn right up when that happens.


BTW, why do you no longer have an icon, just "Authors Icon" as a link?
Click to expand...

I too only see "Authors Icon"
 
Originally posted by: Platypus
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Originally posted by: Platypus
so they'll have a job to do in a few months obviously.. that's how road crews work in this country
Click to expand...
Indeed. Do a lousy job the first time. Then, since it's government, they don't hold anyone accountable, so instead of it being fixed under some kind of warranty or guarantee, the road crew gets paid to fix their shoddy work. There's a lot of money to be made in perpetuating a problem.
Click to expand...

yep
Click to expand...

QFT x 1000.

They have been working on the bridge by my house for the last 10 years. I can see them still doing road for 10+ more years until the job gets done.:roll:
 
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