Road/Highway Conditions

[elkhartjim]

We have driven almost 3000 miles of our planned 6000 mile trip from the Houston area across to South Carolina, up through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. This is on interstate, state highways and some secondary roads; not until we crossed the border into Canada did we encounter what I would call really good roads. Our highway infrastructure is shameful compared to what we have experienced in Canada.

Not to make this political, but what happened to the billions of dollars allocated for the "shovel ready projects"?

[kaypsmith]

Amen, Jim!

[tbutler]

Billions of dollars in a country this size with as many miles of roads and bridges as we have is a tiny drop in the bucket. I was traveling in the days of those shovel-ready projects and saw many of them in progress. Thanks to the inability to agree on how to pay the bill for this, we have stalemated and thus by default decided not to pay for it at all. As you may have read lately the Federal Highway Fund was about to run dry before the end of the construction season this summer. As a result, congress authorized additional funds without doing anything to change the funding sources to provide a consistent flow of funds for this important infrastructure resource.

And the highways are just the tip of the iceberg. We need to rebuild our water and sewer facilities, not to mention natural gas distribution lines, electrical distribution system, and our rail and aviation facilities. We read about flooding from insufficient storm drains, gas lines exploding, and electrical brown-outs and massive outages from everyday storms. In the last few weeks a major water main broke in southern California where water is currently in very short supply. Millions of gallons of water flooded a college campus and went down the river to the ocean.

Our forefathers worked hard to build this nation into the greatest in the world. Now our generation has inherited this wonderful resource which we love so much. We are now responsible for maintaining and rebuilding it all over again but we seem to be unable to shoulder that responsibility. No one ever said that freedom was free. It seems everyone wants someone else to pay for it.

[huffypuff]

Try going through the Yukon and see if you have the same praise for Canada. Then when you drive into Alaska you will see the road improve very much. Do you know that the B.C. truckers prefer to go into the US when going east then back up into their country. I guess it's depends on where you look.

[wayne77590]

Everyone that travels in an RV knows the roads in the Yukon are bad. However when traveling on roads in the Continental United States one would expect that the roads would be considerably better. We left Texas, traveled East, up the East Coast, and we encountered roads that are in dire need of repair. The NY Throughway up I-87 and over to the Mass Pike is horrible. When I stopped at the toll both I told the agent that they should pay me for traveling on their roads. He just laughed.

Travel to Leweston, Youngstown, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the roads are in bad shape. The manhole covers sit at least 2 inches below the surface of the road and give one heck of a jolt when having to run over one. I play dodge-em when i can.

When we leave here we will travel across the QEW in Canada and I'm looking forward to the ride - not getting there through the NY roadways though.

Where does all that toll money go anyhow?

[huffypuff]

Where does all that toll money go anyhow?

Goes to political parties to spend on whatever they want. Really they spend more money on studies and fighting on what should be done than the repairs or projects themselves. Seattle politician spent over 1 billion over ten years fighting to replace a bridge that cost 365 million. Now it is costing another 1.5 billion with cost overruns to build the bridge. That bridge is going to be a toll bridge that wasn't before so I will never use it. It's not that there isn't enough money but it's the jerks that we elect to waste it.

[medico]

In many states, such as New York, it gets put into the General Fund. Most of the funds in the General Fund go to welfare.

[lpennington]

Any advice which Interstate routes to take with motor home between Las Vegas and Cincinnati?

Hoping to find the smoothest ride.

[jlandon13399]

Forget I 40 thru Arizona, especially around Kingman. It is the pits....no pun intended.

[medico]

I might consider Rte 70 all the way. Take Rte. 15 north to Rte 70. The views through 15 and 70 in the mountains are breathtaking. It has however been several years since I traveled this route. I cannot attest to the smoothness of the ride now.

[elkhartjim]

I drove I-94 today from Fargo to Bismark, ND and they have the best highways so far we've driven on. There are still several miles of construction but the open lanes are really good.

Of course they've had a little windfall from that stuff underground. Walmart is offering $12.20/hr for night stockers and there are more help wanted signs posted here than I've seen in years.

Diesel is $3.709 at Sam's with easy in and out for our 38' towing a 4-door Jeep.

[wayne77590]

I-75 N headed toward Alpena, MI. Road was a mess. Got off on to side roads and they were smooth and nice.

[rwilli]

I-65 through Indiana has to be the worst! I travel to Northern Illinois frequently but have traveled out-of-my way to avoid Indiana. Guess they don't need the revenue from tourist/travelers.

[wayne77590]

Missouri, US-65, has been nice so far. Presently in Branson.