[USA] Rebuilding the highways

[sydneynick]

brides rusting

A problem for the groom, presumably?

[roadtester]

brides rusting

A problem for the groom, presumably?

And for iron maidens.

[ScottB5411]

brides rusting

A problem for the groom, presumably?

And for iron maidens.

Edited

[Enceladus]

Just how bad are the state of US interstates and highways. When I was in Northern California last, a few years back, they seemed pretty good. Good surfacing, good maintenance etc but I am aware that a lot of bridges on the US interstates are in really poor shape and in danger of failing.

Much of the US infrastructure and not just roads is apparently ageing and in poor shape.

[Glom]

No doubt NorCal is at the higher end of the attention spectrum.

[KeithW]

Just how bad are the state of US interstates and highways. When I was in Northern California last, a few years back, they seemed pretty good. Good surfacing, good maintenance etc but I am aware that a lot of bridges on the US interstates are in really poor shape and in danger of failing.

Much of the US infrastructure and not just roads is apparently ageing and in poor shape.

They are very variable. Most Interstates are in pretty good shape but a lot of other highways are seriously substandard by today's standards. Many were built in the 1940's and 1950's. When I worked in Columbus Ohio during the mid 1990's I lived in Worthington about 12 miles north and used State Route 315. The section from the Interstate Ring Road (I-270) and the city centre was an old section of D2 with all the problems that brings. The concrete surface was heavily patched due to the brutal winters and the entry/exit ramps were very short. The bridges looked to be in poor condition with a lot of visible rust. Towards the end of the period I spent there they were rebuilding the whole section which is now much better.

Other roads which were deficient by modern standards would include the New Jersey Turnpike which was very overcrowded when I used it and genuinely scary road with lots of tailgating and poor driving. I also believe this has been widened in recent years. The biggest problem on the roads is typically the bridges which seem to have poor maintenance regimes, they certainly look tatty and rusty and there have been a number of high profile collapses not least the I-35 Collapse in Minneapolis.

To be fair the climate is much more extreme in the USA than we see in the UK. While I was in Ohio daytime temperatures could tip out at +40 C in summer an go down to -30 C in winter which causes serious frost heave especially on concrete road surfaces. Many of the routes across the Rockies close from mid October to late May due to heavy snowfall while in the mid west in spring and summer you would do well to keep the radio tuned to a station that carries tornado warnings.

[bothar]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ers-report

Engineers report Bridges C+ Roads D.

[c2R]

Having now travelled about 5000km in the US, it does seem that there is a large programme of bridge replacements occurring for minor over/underbridges at junctions. Whether this is centrally coordinated or not I have no idea. There are also some really terrible surfaces on some sections, upstate New York for example appears to have large sections of concrete slabs that are coming apart making a particularly unpleasant drive on, for examle I-88; while the I-90 thruway has long stretches of carriageway replacement ongoing...

[jackal]

Could just be an age thing. Germany has a massive ongoing programme of bridge works leading to far more disruption than we're used to in the UK, where a single bridge replacement is a big deal. This is simply because, like the US, they have many older motorways than we do.

[mikehindsonevans]

Our drives over the past three weeks, between Seattle and Portland on the north edge of Oregon (then east along the Columbia River and back west into Portland through the forest-fire smoke), have been on fairly smooth roads, over bridges which didn't fall down.

We did notice that many of the older bridges with trestles linking the sides above the traffic lanes, have large yellow signs above the far-left and far-right corners, where the structure of the bridges means that the headroom dips by six critical inches above the extremities of each carriageway's running lanes. None of the signs appeared to have been hit (but then, they were suspiciously new!)

Mike

[bothar]

Having now travelled about 5000km in the US, it does seem that there is a large programme of bridge replacements occurring for minor over/underbridges at junctions. Whether this is centrally coordinated or not I have no idea. There are also some really terrible surfaces on some sections, upstate New York for example appears to have large sections of concrete slabs that are coming apart making a particularly unpleasant drive on, for examle I-88; while the I-90 thruway has long stretches of carriageway replacement ongoing...

I was on the i-90 in August also, and noted the surfacing work.
The I-90 isn't especially impressive (other than being the longest freeway). The NY section is D2M and rather busy, and the surface has imperfections like this and it is tolled! I travelled for part of my journey on its predecessor US20 which largely ignores large towns and passes through many small ones, which is not heavily trafficked.

[J N Winkler]

Having now travelled about 5000km in the US, it does seem that there is a large programme of bridge replacements occurring for minor over/underbridges at junctions. Whether this is centrally coordinated or not I have no idea. There are also some really terrible surfaces on some sections, upstate New York for example appears to have large sections of concrete slabs that are coming apart making a particularly unpleasant drive on, for examle I-88; while the I-90 Thruway has long stretches of carriageway replacement ongoing...

It has been reported that FHWA instructed state DOTs to prioritize bridge replacements in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, and that this has squeezed other categories of highway spending, such as resurfacing/rehabilitation/restoration/reconstruction (called "4R" in the business, or sometimes "3R" when reconstruction is not involved; probably equivalent to major maintenance in the UK), new capacity, and so on. I haven't actually found a memo or other evidence of such a directive from FHWA, but this report from the GAO (the US equivalent of the NAO) shows that the percentage of structurally deficient bridge deck area has dropped in nearly all states over the past decade, though by varying amounts:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/679743.pdf