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Post by aeromanda on Apr 9, 2012 20:02:49 GMT
For those of you in the US I have a question. Today I made the observation that in PA whenever they have a major construction project if the road is curvy or twisty they do as much as they can to straighten it out. (Taking all the fun out of driving them!  ) I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this trend in their states. |
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Post by FizzyLogician on Apr 9, 2012 20:29:48 GMT
I don't see that too much. If there's a curve, there's usually a good reason like a river, ledge, or hill.
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Post by devil-may-care on Apr 9, 2012 23:32:41 GMT
I've seen it happen around here in ME a few times. There was a great stretch of three consecutive S's that is now just a long easy curve.  I used to really enjoy that particular dive. |
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Post by missburlo on Apr 10, 2012 18:09:22 GMT
What on Earth are you lot talking about?
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Post by aeromanda on Apr 10, 2012 21:00:37 GMT
What on Earth are you lot talkinng about? On TG they often say that all the roads in America are straight but that's not quite true. In the "older states" the ones on the East coast that where settled sooner often in the country roads can be quite curvy. In my area, there were some roads where there were some great corners and turns. But when there are new road works projects they tend to reroute the roads, rebuild them, so that they aren't as curved; instead they tend to have longer gentler curves so that people won't get into as many accidents. So that those of us who enjoy driving on twisty roads (and know how to do so correctly) don't have as much fun driving. Does that answer the question? |
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Post by adrianmay on Apr 10, 2012 21:21:01 GMT
Try the mountain switch backs anywhere in the county. There's an adventure. Pike's Peak used to give me heart attacks. No guard rail and ice in the shade and on the turns.
Let's not pick on our roads too much. At least they are crowned and banked. We're spoiled really.
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Post by jmsquared on Apr 11, 2012 7:48:41 GMT
I found the roads in the US to be very good indeed. The road north of where I live, (Highway 1 and extending north over 2000km and eventually all round the continent) is an absolute disgrace. The vast majority of it is only 2 lanes (one in each direction), full of potholes, degraded or non-existant shoulders, and populated by massive trucks. Sadly, it claims many lives. No level of government seems willing or able to do anything about it.
*steps off soapbox*
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Post by FizzyLogician on Apr 11, 2012 11:31:40 GMT
We have a lot of roads on the East Coast that are badly in need of repair. Much of the interstate here is a disgrace also.
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Post by aeromanda on Apr 12, 2012 16:18:23 GMT
A few years ago there was a survey done of truck drivers (lorry drivers for those of you in the UK) and they had the truckers rate the roads in the US. Pennsylvania was voted as having the worst roads. And you have to pay tolls to drive on a lot of them. I would say that things haven't changed much! |
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Post by devil-may-care on Apr 12, 2012 18:40:27 GMT
A few years ago there was a survey done of truck drivers (lorry drivers for those of you in the UK) and they had the truckers rate the roads in the US. Pennsylvania was voted as having the worst roads. And you have to pay tolls to drive on a lot of them. I would say that things haven't changed much! Glad to see that toll money going to good use!  |
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Post by meimichan on Apr 12, 2012 19:25:21 GMT
A few years ago there was a survey done of truck drivers (lorry drivers for those of you in the UK) and they had the truckers rate the roads in the US. Pennsylvania was voted as having the worst roads. And you have to pay tolls to drive on a lot of them. I would say that things haven't changed much! Glad to see that toll money going to good use! I've done a LOT of driving all over a decent chunk of the USA and while PA's roads are total crap, I think Michigan's are worse. Ohio's roads are better than both. The one thing I'll admit Ohio does do correctly is road maintenance.  (waves to slfriend). I grew up in Michigan and my parents moved to Ohio so I did travel between both states a lot for a few years in there. You could tell when you had crossed the state border, because the road conditions would change that drastically. Big welcome to whichever state you're now in sign not needed. Are the roads smooth, or did the potholes just eat your tires? Michigan's roads are at least all free to drive-the only toll in MI is crossing the Mackinac Bridge. Which is great fun when the weather's nice but when the weather's scary, that bridge is TERRIFYING. Since it's northern Michigan....the weather's usually crap. The toll road thing might tip me into hating PA's roads more. I had a blog about how to build a Michigan road, it was freaking hilarious, but I cannot find the link right now and as I've barely slept all week, I'd much rather do that. I'll see if I can find it later. |
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Post by FizzyLogician on Apr 13, 2012 0:35:52 GMT
I've driven up and down the East Coast a bunch of times, and my observation is that the roads improve dramatically once you get south of PA. I think the winters up here really take their toll on the roads (pun alert). CT's interstates are the worst.
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) I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this trend in their states.
I used to really enjoy that particular dive.
(waves to slfriend). I grew up in Michigan and my parents moved to Ohio so I did travel between both states a lot for a few years in there. You could tell when you had crossed the state border, because the road conditions would change that drastically. Big welcome to whichever state you're now in sign not needed. Are the roads smooth, or did the potholes just eat your tires? 