Worst roads in America?

[cbing04]

I am curious as to why the roads are so bad in Oklahoma and what if anything can be done to change that. Feel free to comment and maybe we can all come up with ideas to change this.

[jompster]

For the "why" part, I would say because Oklahoma has a poor funding mechanism in place to maintain or improve them. We wait until they are failing before we fix them.

[Mel]

I know every time I see a truck or car that has been lowered I'm thinking "are you crazy man!" Not just a generational thing but also that has to limit where you can drive around here. With all the heavy duty construction going on in western OKC and eastern Mustang those big heavy trucks are tearing the heck out of many roads.

[bchris02]

I think its an issue of funding being stretched too thin as well as resources being allocated to promote sprawl. I personally think the city of OKC should focus on repaving and fixing existing roads prior to widening anything north of NW 150th.

[bradh]

If you're talking about state maintained roads, it's because we're so scared of debt that we won't even take advantage of cheap credit to completely build projects that should be done all at once (235/44).

[hoya]

I did the math on it several years ago. The state of Oklahoma has more paved highway miles, per person, than most other states. If I remember correctly we have twice as many paved miles per person as states like Kansas and Texas. But we do not spend any more money, per person, than they do. Our spending per person is pretty much in line with what other states spend -- but we have more road miles than they do so we are stretched more thinly.

[Architect2010]

I think its an issue of funding being stretched too thin as well as resources being allocated to promote sprawl. I personally think the city of OKC should focus on repaving and fixing existing roads prior to widening anything north of NW 150th.

They should focus on replacing and fixing existing roads prior to widening ANY ROAD out in the boondocks.*

I fixed it for you. :3

[windowphobe]

The worst Interstates I've ever encountered were rather a long way from here: Interstate 69 in southern MIchigan, and Interstate 65 through downtown Montgomery, Alabama. (65 was so bad at the time, they'd posted a 35-mph limit, lest you crumple your suspension bits in the first thousand yards.) I do hope they've improved in the years since.

[catch22]

Portland Ave between SW89th and SW104th has become third world. Meanwhile the city's longest ever construction project has a brand new road sitting and waiting to be striped parallel to it for the past 5 months.

The Portland Ave realignment has been in the works for the past 5 years.

[bchris02]

Portland Ave between SW89th and SW104th has become third world. Meanwhile the city's longest ever construction project has a brand new road sitting and waiting to be striped parallel to it for the past 5 months.

The Portland Ave realignment has been in the works for the past 5 years.

Meanwhile many roads in Midtown and SoSA are in third world condition and a lot of them don't have sidewalks. They could fix a lot of problems in the core with the money they are using to build these wide roads out to nowhere.

[catch22]

Take a drive down Portlandby the airport. Nothing in midtown even compares.

between 89th and 104th, potholes are so large that only one lane of traffic can get through. You also have to reduce to walking pace on some sections to avoid wrecking your suspension or blowing a tire.

[bradh]

Catch is right, that road is awful, nothing else comes close

[bluedogok]

Every state and city has its fair share of bad roads.

[bradh]

Exactly

I was just on another board I post on, and what was one of the top threads on the Houston forum? Something about crappy surface streets.

[BG918]

They're terrible in Denver too. Potholes everywhere. Climate is a big factor; places like California and Florida will naturally have better roads because of their warmer winters without the constant freeze-thaw cycle.

[bchris02]

They're terrible in Denver too. Potholes everywhere. Climate is a big factor; places like California and Florida will naturally have better roads because of their warmer winters without the constant freeze-thaw cycle.

Is Denver's streets primarily asphalt?

Concrete streets are more expensive but they hold up a lot better.

[BG918]

Is Denver's streets primarily asphalt?

Concrete streets are more expensive but they hold up a lot better.

Yes mostly asphalt just like in OKC.

[adaniel]

While there are some unique challenges that face Oklahoma (climate, large trucking traffic, large amount of roads in underpopulated areas), the entire state of the US infrastructure is in poor shape. And it really threatens the future of this country. There aren't a lot of places that can say their roads are in good shape.

[Motley]

I can't speak to all of California, but San Diego has very good streets. However, our water mains break all the time, so they need to invest a large amount of money in water main replacements for all of the older parts of the city. I haven't been in the back country of N. Calif for a while, so they may have worse roads due to winter weather.

[bradh]

Is Denver's streets primarily asphalt?

Concrete streets are more expensive but they hold up a lot better.

Houston has a ton of concrete streets and a lot of them are ridiculous. They don't have the pot holes but they present a different set of issues, they buckle and get bumpy as hell.

[Just the facts]

Like Hoya said, too many miles and not enough money. That is not a sustainable combination. I would support a 'no new roads' initiative, including roads built in subdivisions. Let the homeowners in the subdivisions pay for maintenance of their streets.

[Stickman]

Just came back from Houston, LOTS of problems in that city. They build more toll roads.............that's their answer to population explosion they have seen. If you think we have sprawl, go to Houston.

[cbing04]

I just moved from Minneapolis and the roads there are in great shape. Considering the fact that it freezes for 6 months out of the year and they use salt and other chemicals to keep them dry in the winter months. I just can't believe how bad they are here, it's like a third world country.

[Rover]

Is Denver's streets primarily asphalt?

Concrete streets are more expensive but they hold up a lot better.

Not necessarily. They still crack and buckle under Oklahoma weather, and break up on the surface when the mix is off a little and the road ages. And when they need fixed/replaced can be very expensive. At least if the sub-structure is good, asphalt can be ground off, recycled, and used again.

[bluedogok]

Denver also has a fascination with putting the sewer (sanitary and storm), water lines and other services in the roads instead of along the roads in the grass. This creates more obstacles in addition to the potholes. In most cases when repaving the roads they don't hold the contractors to adjusting manholes and valves to be flush with the new paving surfaces (adjustment rings are available in 1" increments) so sometimes you end up with a manhole that is 3" lower than the new paving around it. Not too big of a deal in my wife's 4Runner other than the shock from it but it is for my Z4 with low profile tires (and every wheel now bent) and the motorcycle. They do have concrete at some intersections but they don't extend them far enough away from the the lights so the asphalt movement creates a bump at the interface which plays havoc with ABS systems....and the traffic light timings are pretty much the worst that I have ever experienced.