Roadway Conditions - List Of Worst In U.S.

[whiteeagle]

Sure many of you have traveled more miles than I have in the US but I have somewhere in excess of a million miles driving in every continental state except 3 ..and now have approx 80,000 in mh while towing in past few years.

The roadways are in many areas absolutely horrible. Many need repairs, some are worse after "repair".....

Amazing that our powers (nothing political - no party or group of specific individuals are worse or proven to be better than others) continue to spend hundreds of billions on roadway construction but can'r build road (or don't want to ) that can last more than 3-5 years.

I propose FMCA organization starts a "Roadway list of Shame" based on members input that would be shared with state and Federal DOT departments.

I personally have experienced vehicle damage because of lousy roadway, incompetent repairs, and conditions that now just seem to be accepted by our DOT folks as being acceptable. I would love to take a group of them from each state put them in a steel tire wood wagon and haul them on some of their roadways at 60 MPH ... they might understand just how lousy they have been doing.. starting with poor specifications, the apparent poor monitoring of the roadway construction and adherence to the specifications currently in place, and recognition of dangerous conditions developing.. It's obvious to me that they need help in identifying unsafe and needy roadways. This might be helpful to a few that may care. 

Anybody know how best to accumulate such a list and then request FMCA present it to the states powers that might be involved?

[hermanmullins]

White Eagle 

Sounds to me like you have volunteered to take on a task. When you get it started let us know and most will be happy to submit their choices.

Herman 

[jleamont]

WhiteEagle, sounds like you just came back and went through a beating. I can relate, my last coach had $4500.00 of damage occur on I-40 just before crossing the Mississippi River, it was never right after, we had it fixed and got rid of it. The roads do sour me also, most of us on here can relate to your frustration. Just not sure what can be accomplished other than a warning list to our fellow members to stay away from a specific highway, perhaps if the local economy suffered from the roadways to and from a certain area it might gain some attention? My insurance co told me I was fighting a loosing battle, just forget about it we will fix it.

[tbutler]

It's a hit and miss kind of thing.  I'd put I-40 west of Flagstaff to Kingman, AZ (in both directions) on my hit list.  The sign that said rough road wasn't lying!  There are sometimes stretches of road that are really good and then you hit a patch that makes you slow down and grit your teeth. 

The fact is that with the heavy loads (our coaches included - consider our axle weights) will destroy roads and they need to be periodically repaired and rebuilt.  The US has roads everywhere, not the case with many countries.  Keeping up with the repair costs money and many taxpayers aren't in the mood to contribute.  We could generate a whole lot of jobs, good paying jobs, if we would fund the repairs.

Ask your state department of transportation about their funding level.  Talk to your state and federal representatives and tell them that the DOT needs better funding.  Press your representatives with data, how many bridges in the state are in need of repair, how many need to be replaced?  How many miles of highway are in need of repair and how many miles are being repaired this year?  Use statistics from the DOT to let your representatives know that you know.  Get your local FMCA Chapter to work with you.  Have everyone in the chapter contact their state and federal representatives.  It isn't lobbying if I tell you to write to your representative, the same for your FMCA Chapter.  Individual voters writing to their representatives are the most effective communication we can have.  If enough of us write, we can get action.  But we have to support what that means.  We have to be willing to say, I'll pay more to get good roads.

Fuel prices are down, now is a great time to increase the fuel taxes which can be used for road repair and bridge replacement.  I think that $0.50 per gallon could be added to fuel prices right now and there would be very few places where the price of fuel would be more than $3.00 per gallon.  I can still remember paying close to $5.00 per gallon a few years ago.  I don't like toll roads and I sure don't support the privatization of toll roads as has been done in some states.  I'd rather see funding for roads come from fuel and vehicle licenses (user fees).  I really resent driving on toll roads that are in dire need of repair.  Significant funding should come from the general public because everyone needs good roads.  That means increased income and property taxes.  The groceries don't come to your neighborhood store any way other than the road.  If you eat, you need roads. 

[BillAdams]

Raise taxes now while prices are low?  You do know that prices are going back up again as soon a the Saudi's stop pumping and pumping and pumping (killing the US oil business) right?  When that happens with your new .50 tax you will be looking at $5.50/gallon.  "Those who fail from history are doomed to repeat it!"  These low prices are going to be short lived and most States send these taxes to the general fund instead of the highway fund they were intended for so a new tax would not necessarily mean that money would go toward or roads and bridges.

[wildebill308]

You often hear people rave about the roads in Europe. The problem is we do not require the same level of quality here. In Europe under some contracts the contractor must maintain the road for say 5 years or more.  So he will use better quality products and better building methods when he does his bid on the job. Some would only add a small increase in cost per mile. Here the jobs must be let to the lowest bid and they don't have any responsibility to repair them if they fall apart the day after they finish. When you add in the fact that the Federal government does not return the majority of the money collected in gas taxes this adds to the problem. 

I think a small $.10 increase would, if it really was applied to road repair would make a big difference and wouldn't be noticeable at the pump.

Tom, you are right about I-40-- was on it last week. It is kind of scary to see the sign for rough road when what you are already on is pretty rough. There were a couple of sections that they had re done that were not to bad. Just drove from Barstow to Amarillo.

Bill

[BillAdams]

I love the billboard that a company bought here in Houston.  It says " we fix the lowest bidders problems".  Sound familiar?

[whiteeagle]

Sounds like we agree.... I believe though for anything to get politicians attention, it takes individuals with money for them .. or in the absence of self serving donor money, an organization to express facts and their members opinions.

Unfortunately, I don't believe poor road repair management can be fixed by throwing more money at it any more than continuing to throw money at our "war on drugs"....or many of the other weasel word initiatives....

Anybody notice the billions we are now spending on ditch and roadway colored gravel sculptures, overhead crosswalk and bridge decorative metalwork,, interchange landscaping, ??? Spending billions on these rather than repairing the actual roads and bridges.Makes them feel good while the users are getting bounced around. Current DOT objectives have very little to do with road safety and accountability for spending other peoples money..

 

 

[manholt]

BillAdams.  Saudi has about 2 more years of oil reserves, then they will have to buy it...we have estimated 150-200 years reserve and a lot off it we can't use because of environment specialists (ugh), govt. etc.  With homegrown production, we could be looking at diesel prices below reg gas again!  Politics...Ugh!

I-10 between Lafayette and the Beaux Bridge!  I-20 East of Monroe!  I-30 Little Rock! I-40 before Memphis!

Carl

[wayne77590]

Colorado Springs, CO, to Amarillo, TX. Roads in CO were good, Roads in TX (US-287) was good.

Avoid US-287 in Oklahoma if you can. That stretch of US-287 across the Oklahoma panhandle is the worst we have ever been on. It is a continuous bump. We had to slow down to 50-55 so the bumps would appear to be further apart.

The rest of US-287 has some rough spots in cities but for the most part it was good.

[whiteeagle]

Here's another recent experience that I posted as a travel review from last week.......

MOTORHOMERS BEWARE!!!! STAY OUT OF PORCUPINE MOUNTAIN PARK - ESPECIALLY THE MAIN NORTHERN 2/3 s... Only half *** safe area is southern tip up to first campgrounds.

I emphatically warn folks with motorhomes to stay away from most of this park - especially the route 107 from the north going up to the Lake in the clouds ... and the first 15 miles area from the headquarters southward to route 519. These roads are horribly potholed and rough... even newer areas are pot-holes and rough... AND the worst part is that the overhanging trees and branches will damage your roof and electronics on it.. Guaranteed to cost you significant $... It was wet and raining.. I made the complete trip around the entire pard .. did my absolute best in dodging and swerving around to miss the low hanging branches but had hundreds of branches hitting the coach... broke an antenna .. twisted the spotlight arround.... I never got over 30mph but had a miserable trip.... I reported the horrible tree branvhes hanging down to the "kind of ranger" gal at desk up at top parking lot of lake in the Clouds .. she said it was not their fault nor responsibility.. those roads are "county" so it was not the parks problem. The person(s) responsible should be fired and charged with fraud. Miserable experience - wouldn't wish this on anyone.

[manholt]

If your ever in the area of Hwy 145 between Cortez, CO. and Telluride, CO. there is a National Forest Campground about 10 miles south of Lizard Head Pass.  It's a very nice place to spend 3 or 5 days.  Park rd. going in is OK but steep, at bottom go slow, but no overhangs to worry and they have 30A...no ac needed, ever.  Water is available at sites (low pressure) I used it to fill tank, then use pump. No sewage, but dump site available.  I took my Jeep in first, then coach...I was not the only 45' in there.  It's at 9,700 feet...I got acclimated at Dolores River RV Park, 7,200', for 6 weeks and going on the higher elevation 4x4 trails...San Juan Mountains!

Carl

[wildebill308]

One more reason I park the RV and use the toad to explore the area. We stayed at Frontier Bar & Campground, 11296 US-2, Saxon, WI 54559, frontierbarandcampground.com, (715) 893-2461

While we explored the area. Yes there are some rough roads but low trees arn't a problem with the toad.

Bill

[hayesfamily]

Might be a little late on this one but sound to me like the Mid west is rough road country. Physically the road isn't "Rough" but trying to squeeze through the construction stuff on 95 and parts of 81 here in the PA MD and VA will make you squeeze your buns and open ya wallet too. Then there is VA around Richmond to Petersburg VA - most of the time I'd rather walk than drive my car through that stretch of road so imagine the beating your coach would take.

AND NONE OF THIS IS PARK -- we're talking Interstate Travel. 

[wildebill308]

I have said it before, we need to require the contractors to maintain the road for a minimum of 5 years after it is built. There are many things that will extend the quality of the road surface  but they are not used. Because the contracts are (BY LAW) given to the lowest bidder regardless of the history of the contractor.

There is no final acceptance inspection or warranty period. The road surface can start to fall apart the first time traffic crosses it and there is no recourse. Well except to give a contract to the lowest bidder again.

Bill

[whiteeagle]

Agreed ... still think FMCA organization COULD be a logical first step in preparing a organized list / member response survey - maybe in cooperation with AAA, Good Sam, Insurance companies, etc...- Publish it annually along with names and contact info of worst 10 roadways responsible DOT department(s) 

[wildebill308]

3 hours ago, WhiteEagle said:

Agreed ... still think FMCA organization COULD be a logical first step in preparing a organized list / member response survey - maybe in cooperation with AAA, Good Sam, Insurance companies, etc...- Publish it annually along with names and contact info of worst 10 roadways responsible DOT department(s) 

While I think that is a good idea I don't think it would be feasible because the road conditions change at least monthly and in some places weekly. The outher thing would be there would be no standard of reporting conditions as it is totally subjective. What one person thinks is ok might be terrible to someone else and vise versa.

This summer I saw a van like the one in this article doing a "road surface survey" out west.

http://newatlas.com/road-laser-scanner/27345/

I would pay a bonus to whoever figures out how to make the transition to and from bridges smooth!!!! 

Happy New Year

Bill

[BillAdams]

The membership of FMCA is so tiny compared to an organization like AAA or any other auto related organization that anything this club put together would be laughable by comparison.  If you want to see some action taken on the roads then get the truckers and the everyday public involved.  They outnumber us 1,000,000 to 1.

[wayne77590]

This past year we encountered some roads that rattled our teeth.

Well, we are driving down the road in a rolling earthquake.

[hayesfamily]

On 12/31/2016 at 6:15 PM, BillAdams said:

The membership of FMCA is so tiny compared to an organization like AAA or any other auto related organization that anything this club put together would be laughable by comparison.  If you want to see some action taken on the roads then get the truckers and the everyday public involved.  They outnumber us 1,000,000 to 1.

This is 100% correct. You would need HUGE numbers to get something like that initiated and though we are powerful for our craft, in the grand scheme of life we are TINY ...   though our incite would be valuable I wonder how much our insurance company info would help especially with all the claims that are put in for damaged parts from roads. I'm sure if they started going after these cities and towns that would be more of an impact and we would see and end to lip service from politicians. Right now a lot of them just chalk things up under your comprehensive but they really should go after the government for those road hazards. 

[whiteeagle]

May not be one of the largest organizations around but think about it... FMCA has currently around 75,000 active motor-homers.... they are likely now looking to create another group of ???? thousands.... These are all folks that travel... have discretionary income....

There are a lot of truckers (but nowhere near 1,000,000 times 75,000 - which would be 75,000,000,000)... but knowing vast majority of the truck drivers drive same normal lanes repeatedly, many don't get the exposure to some of the same areas..  most do not own their own equipment so have less concern about damage done to the equipment.. and many of the trucks if not most can actually handle lousy roadways far better than motorhomes .

My bottom line -- I don't believe worthy and logical actions should be only be initiated by the largest of relevant parties, I remain convinced that FMCA should and could at least

1) make an effort on behalf of the membership to communicate to appropriate responsible departments / agencies at least some notification on what's considered the worst of the worst by state and or area.. and, or ...

2) Explore cooperative efforts with other organizations possibly having similar interests with more scale for leverage.