Construction Season

Dec 30, 2014
13,360
7,752
Grand Junction, Co. USA
Gonna Rant now.

We have definitely entered the dreaded construction season here in Grand Junction.

Took me 45 minutes to get mom to the airport, but, only 30 minutes to get home ... it's literally 5 miles away. There is like 6 ways for me to get out of my neighborhood.

Three of them are in various stages of chip seal. If you've never experienced this (Grand Junction was my first rodeo), there is basically 10 steps as far as I can tell. None of these are good for your vehicle. And virtually every road in Grand Junction gets this process every year.

1) Clean the streets with a convoy of street cleaners

2) put down little plastic markers for lanes)

3) fill in any cracks with tar

4) lay down oil

5) spread chips of rock on the street

6) allow vehicular traffic to push the rocks firmly into the oil and level it somewhat

7) sweep up excess rock

8) fog seal (more oil)

9) re stripe

10) remove little plastic markers (this seems to be optional, because sometimes you just see them forever)

Two of the other routes are being repaved. When the roads get poor enough that chip sealing won't improve them, they repave, then next year the asphalt gets "protected" with chip seal.

And the last route is getting new utilities sunk into it, which of course means either repaving, or patching and chip sealing is in it's future.

One would think that maybe the right hand would talk to the left hand and maybe, just maybe give residents ONE route out of the construction zone that is unmolested at any time.

I get that this "needs" to be done, but, when the economy was not so hot in 2012-2017 (we got the worst a little later than the rest of the country), there was very little of this and the roads just got done like every two to three years. Oh well, Like my Dad used to say, "Every coin has two, or three, or four ... sides". Dad may not of been the sharpest tool in the shed, but, he had some good old common sense, and was prolific with his opinions :AGGHH:.

Okay, rant over ... :D
 
Pennsylvania does the tar and chip crap too only they never gather up the excess stone. I try to avoid those roads after they are done till the stone is run into the oil and the leftovers are run off onto the berm of the road by passing traffic. I hate it!
 
They swept up the excess rocks????!!!! :xzqxz:

Man! You guys are living RIGHT!

In Texas we just let the traffic scatter it around for months. It’s obvious SOMEbody in the Texas Highway Department has a financial interest in the windshield replacement business!
 
They swept up the excess rocks????!!!! :xzqxz:

Man! You guys are living RIGHT!

In Texas we just let the traffic scatter it around for months. It’s obvious SOMEbody in the Texas Highway Department has a financial interest in the windshield replacement business!

I love it when the Township chips and tars/oil......Slows the 'A' hole drivers down...
 
Tar and feather

Not in NY ! They rather spend a ton of $ on grading the dirt roads at least 3 times a year.

The existing pot holes become speed bumps after there filled. And if your lucky, the miller gets used to smooth out the section joint humps on interstate roads.
 
They swept up the excess rocks????!!!! :xzqxz:

Man! You guys are living RIGHT!

In Texas we just let the traffic scatter it around for months. It’s obvious SOMEbody in the Texas Highway Department has a financial interest in the windshield replacement business!

Or they own the rock distribution franchise .... :AGGHH:

Around here they reuse the stuff they clean up
 
They swept up the excess rocks????!!!! :xzqxz:

Man! You guys are living RIGHT!

In Texas we just let the traffic scatter it around for months. It’s obvious SOMEbody in the Texas Highway Department has a financial interest in the windshield replacement business!

Out here its mandatory....EPA Regs........
 
They swept up the excess rocks????!!!! :xzqxz:

Man! You guys are living RIGHT!

In Texas we just let the traffic scatter it around for months. It’s obvious SOMEbody in the Texas Highway Department has a financial interest in the windshield replacement business!

Out here its mandatory....EPA Regs........Even after snow season they have to use a 500 thousand dollar street sweeper to sweep up the salt and sand left over from snow removal on all the streets.......
 
Same Company different part of state...

Pennsylvania does the tar and chip crap too only they never gather up the excess stone. I try to avoid those roads after they are done till the stone is run into the oil and the leftovers are run off onto the berm of the road by passing traffic. I hate it!
So you know over my way they sweep the road of all loose debris (loose stone)after the Chip and seal coat. in District 10. A few years ago they got parts of their bodies twisted in a wringer. I think it involved a Motorcycle loose stone you put there and did nothing to correct is not good when on Two wheels.
 
The law mandates, all township eguipment shall take up at least one full lane or more. All sweeping and mowing operations shall be performed at the absolute minimum speed. A speed that still gives the appearance of movement.:gah:They get bonus pay for operating at morning Rush hour.:laugh:
 
The law mandates, all township eguipment shall take up at least one full lane or more. All sweeping and mowing operations shall be performed at the absolute minimum speed. A speed that still gives the appearance of movement.:gah:They get bonus pay for operating at morning Rush hour.:laugh:

And they have to stop every 1/8 of a mile to converse with the driver of the dump truck with crash pads in its back end that has to stay ten feet behind the sweeper as a bumper so some nimrod doesn't run into the back of the sweeper..

Now why don't they just put the crash pads on the back of the sweeper then they wouldn't need the dump truck and its driver..
 
Our town tried the milling recycling resurfacing thing. As you need to meltdown the old into this spreadable road butter.

Well they used something to melt/desolve the old tar , needless to say it never cured , and when you drove on it , it sticked to your tires and became a big gooey jelly roll. Your car was 3” higher when parked with this goo dripping from the wheel wells. I looked at it as free undercoating :Shrug:
 
Not in NY ! They rather spend a ton of $ on grading the dirt roads at least 3 times a year.

The existing pot holes become speed bumps after there filled. And if your lucky, the miller gets used to smooth out the section joint humps on interstate roads.

Kind of sounds like Iowa. Their making the Hwy 4 lanes , so the gravel road I'm on keeps getting closed, so they can drive across it a couple times a day... So we get to go 3 miles out of our way. Most days their not even working on that part of the road.....
 
I'm a little scared ... 5 of my 6 escape routes had no construction delays today ... don't get me wrong, they are still in various states of chip seal, but nobody working ... maybe the city id doing 4 ten hour days now ... :D
 

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