I'm curious to see on a scale of 1 -10 - the condition of your local roads & highways. 10 being in perfect condition & 1 being the worst. US town/Europe/Australia/NZ/SA/ Etc......
I live in the Napa Valley, California - and I can tell you w/out question, that I have never seen the roads and highways in such poor condition - When I make hard rights and lefts - I like to be heading into a turn on a nice twisting road - not dodging potholes & ruts! Our cars deserve better than this!
I was listening to the news this morning and they said that in an average year the city streets department fixes 11,000 potholes. Because of our brutal winter, they have now repaired 15,000 and have barely scratched the surface. There are some roads I simply won't go down.
I bent a rim and bubbled a tire on my Volvo, it wasn't a pothole, it was a sinkhole.
Jay
When i was in NYC, i would rate the roads 4. Up here where i am now, i'd give it a solid 9
I would always complain about the roads in NYC. However, having driven through a country where you would need new wheels and an alignment done to any modern sedan on a daily basis....i can say...we have it better then a lot of other places.
I'd give these roads at best a 7 out of 10, which is pathetic when you consider the climate in this State. They should be 10 everywhere. Granted, the State's and Counties' funds for infrastructure repair are depleted.. just as is everything else, but you'd think they have enough to fill in and pave over a few pot holes once in a while.. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img]
+1 ds. Roads could be so much better in CAL. Best roads I have ever seen are in Alabama. The interstates are like pool tables. I lived in GA for years. If the road started looking anything but shiny new black the road eater would munch it up and lay down some new asphalt pronto. And those boys could put down miles a day - amazing stuff.
In my part of maryland I'd say a solid 8 including most of the 95.
Baltimore, I'd say the roads are a solid 4.
Hell, we're lucky to have roads here in Louisiana. New Orleans has some of the worst roads in existence. I give them a 3/10.
Ahhh, life in a "mildly" socialist province. Roads here are on average 8+ everywhere and I have the taxes to prove it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]
Here in Scottsdale, AZ, we seem to be spending stimulus money repaving roads that appeared to be in great shape beforehand. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]
Tom
Here in Central Jersey there are big differences from road to road. In my car, the average is a 2. In the minivan, it's a proud 4.
had to switch to 16" wheels for richmond va... so yes. horrible...
Yeah, certainly the roads in California have degraded badly. Maybe a 5-6 for overall, some local roads are horrible, and each year it is simply fill the potholes, that is all. Near me they are widening a 8-10 lane freeway into a 14 lane freeway, and the new concrete they put down is bumpier than the existing pavement!
State, county, local all are under extreme financial stress, they are putting money into unacceptable places. On the bright side the population of California is likely to stop growing, so maybe less $ on new roads and more $ onto improvements?
Roland
In the Netherlands we have some frost damage remaining from the harsh winter, but in general I would say we are a 9. Germany is also a 9. Belgium is a 6. Don't even get me started on Italy...5 max.
After years of no maintenance, our road agency has spent the last two years upgrading and adding extra lanes to all our major highways around the cities. I'd say a good 10 [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img].., intercity, we have 9's for the main tolled routes to the coasts. Secondary roads... 6-8, suburban roads average out at about a 4-5. Too many pot holes or bad repairs... Once you leave the urban areas though and get off the beaten track... its 4X4 territory, even when there is tar [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img].
I would rate the suburban roads around here between 6-8. The surface is pretty good, with reasonable drainage when it rains. Local councils do a reasonable job of maintaining the roads, when they eventually get around to it.
My main gripe though is when they build a decent road to cope with current and projected future traffic. Then, the residents think they can use the road as their personal car parking space. Often these people have perfectly good driveways to park on. But don't get me started on why they don't park their cars in their garages, which are usually full of junk.
An example is a recent dispute in my neighbourhood:
http://www.countydrive.com/
Apologies for the rant.
our road are all over the map - some are great - some really suck - unfortunately, with traffic as heavy as it is, the ones that really suck will likely never get redone - what they really need to do in a couple of areas is shut the road down completely for a couple of months and just redo the whole thing and widen it
but this is government at work after all, and therefore since this makes sense, it will never happen
My part of MD Id give a 7, On avg I think I would give MD a 7 as well. I would have to exclude B-More as this would bring the avg so far down it wouldn't represent the majority well.
BTW- As I'm only 10 miles out from DC I figure I would rate them as well. I give DC is a 3 avg. They do a ton of patch work but the winters here really takes a toll.
I live out in the regional areas of Queensland in Australia. I drive around 50,000 plus kilometres per year. In short - our roads suck 3/10 if that. On top of that, our Government and Police keep trying to tell us that "Speed Kills" - but for me it is boredom. 100km/h speed limits are stupid - we need better roads.
We get raped on fuel taxes and registration and get nothing back. We pay around $1.00 (USD) per litre of petrol. So this has to be around $4.00 per gallon.
I have lived in USA, travelled extensively around it, along with living in Chile in South America. Chile has better roads.
Our drivers suck as well. We do not have freeways outside of major cities. Most people cannot keep to inside lanes when not overtaking and on regional roads, when there is an overtaking lane - it is treated as a race-track. Do 90km/h in a 100km/h zone and then speed up to 120km/h in the overtaking lane, only to slow down at the end to 90km/h. Thank god we cannot have guns - I would have a M16 and use it on the brain dead people we have over here.
No-one can overtake any more on single lane roads - the Police will book you for it and as above - "Speed Kills".
ARRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have picked a wound that refuses to heal.
Oh - and we do not believe that training drivers how to drive might have an impact on our road toll. By the way - as a Nation of 25 Million people, we kill around 1,200 people annually. We have the best or second best road toll statistics in the world (expressed in deaths per million passenger vehicle kilometres) - but our Government still tells us we are terrible. Why - they raise around $1.2Billion annually through traffic fines. Yes $1.2Billion.
I need to go and have a lie down.
SOrry - I forgot, do more than 40km/h over the speed limit and they will take your licence off you for 6 months, plus add 8 demerit points to it (you get 12 demerit points for 3 years). Get more than 12 demerit points and they will take your licence off you for another 6 months.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I keep telling people, that there should be a day per year where you can buy a licence to hunt politicians if they piss you off. Then they might listen to us. Pay enough and they only get a small head start. They has to be a good way of raising revenue.
I am not a readneck, but when did some ars%^ole in politics get the right to lecture to us and oppress us. Where is the will of the people.
Speed limits are meant to be set by what speed 80% of the population would do. This never happens.
The national highway up to my place has several areas where they have made it 90km/h or 80km/h becuase of accidents. I follow B-double trucks doing 110km/h through this section of road. It is just people have forgotten how to drive. It is not a skill - it is now a chore.
Bring on the revolution.
see the "lower chassis brace" thread for a cheap remedy to poor roads ; mount that lower brace on and I can promise you the potholes and uneven surfaces, cracks, etc will seem far less bothersome. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] not a susbstitute for having the states fix the roads, but a next best solution, IMO