I knew it
November 8, 2011 Posted by mitch | life, thoughts | 0 Comments
In some other universe... I think I'm a Civil Engineer. As its always interested me from when I was little and building my Cities out of Legos. However, One thing that really annoys me is road construction, and my belief that they always do it wrong. It stands to reason that the largest costs in the roads built by cities is in labor... and equipment, not necessarily in supplies for the common 3" asphalt road I see built. But, when the city (or state for that matter) pushes for a longer lasting road... why is it they do it in Cement? If you couldn't tell... I'm kind of a car nut... and as one... I love driving. (In yet another universe... I'm a car racer... and a fourth... i'm racing motorcycles...) Anyway... driving on tarmac/asphalt is much more pleasing of a surface, however I feel its got a bad rap because of these ill conceived 3" thick roads. If you were to make an asphalt road as thick with as much preparation under the road as what they put into cement roads around here... I believe they would get just as much life out of them for a third the cost. Granted... I'm pulling numbers out of my ass... but the Germans build the Autobauhn out of asphalt, but they're doing 12" of asphalt. And they have less maintanance! Anyway... thats been my opinion for years... and its irritating... because of the afore mentioned percevied bias of the only lasting road being cement... just isn't true.... least not for the lower traffic city roads... I think they could double the thickness and see tripple the life expectancy of it. But I know its all comes down to the money now... not what the future will bring. I know both political parties at the moment can't seem to guide the country out of that idiotic mindset... we're like a bunch of 2 year olds... need everything now... to hell with what will come later....
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