Why are Oklahoma's roads so crappy?

[EhlerDave]

So, is there any recourse that we, normal every day people, have against these ****** road construction and maintenance shenanigans?

How do we hold the crews and companies that get these contracts accountable?

Moreover, how do we hold our elected and appointed officials who oversee the construction and maintenance contracts accountable?

I worked in road construction for a while, I know why the roads fail. Look at it like this, the dirt compaction test fails, the VP of the company and the STATE inspector get in the VP's car and drive up and down the dirt road. Wallah the dirt has now just passed the failed compaction test.

Funny how that car could compact the roadway, but not the heavy equipment made for that purpose. I have witnessed this myself, not kidding at all. This may explain why our roads are in such bad shape all the time. Because when they break up the same company gets paid to fix them again. Each time they have an inspector on site to insure the work is done properly and passes all the required tests.

 

[sedona]

FYI there is a pothole at 3rd and Peoria that has done over $300,000 worth of damage to cars since April from what just one front end shop told me.Our last winter tore up the roads pretty bad but i haven't seen hardly any repair this summer.

 

[CHenry]

He's the engineer that fed excat_56 that line of booshit. He's run and hid. His absence is conspicuous and his silence is deafening.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

 

[CHenry]

I think those "Stitch" type repairs are to actually connect to adjacent slabs to some extent, kind of like legos. Supposedly better than just butting them up together.

Dowel bar retrofit. Its bandaid to get a little more life. They didnt use to use steel in the slabs back in the day.

 

[plissken]

Oklahoma roads are just plain embarrassing. When I was working up that way SW Kansas had gravel section line roads better than our interstates. And I'm not exaggerating!

You are correct, sir!

 

[CHenry]

Who knows how many lane miles of state highway and interstate OK has? Look it up an compare it to AR and even TX. But consider TX size.

 

[CHenry]

Then look at our transportation bill compared to theirs. Its all about lack o money. And I won't argue corruption.

 

[9mmTeacher]

I love Oklahoma. Born and raised here. Probably never live anywhere else. The problem is much worse than the roads. How many of our state run systems are in bad condition? Ultimately, it is our fault, because we continue to elect the people that are responsible for our problems.

 

[securitysix]

I have always been told that part ("most", according to some) of the reason Oklahoma roads, and particularly our bridges, are terrible is how we treat them in the winter. It's not that we put down salt and sand, which plenty of other states do, too. It's that after the reason for putting down the salt and sand is gone, i.e. after the snow and ice melts away, we don't do anything about it, so when it rains, it washes the salt and sand down into and around the road surface and that facilitates and accelerates the oxidation of the steel in the bridges and concrete roads. Also, the extra friction from the salt and sand on the surface of the roads helps wear them down from above. It seems to make sense, so I've never really questioned it.

Who knows how many lane miles of state highway and interstate OK has? Look it up an compare it to AR and even TX. But consider TX size.

According to this PDF, ODOT is responsible for 30,000 lane miles of road. I'm having trouble finding a number for any of the surrounding states, but that'll get folks going, I suppose.

 

[Billybob]

I love Oklahoma. Born and raised here. Probably never live anywhere else. The problem is much worse than the roads. How many of our state run systems are in bad condition? Ultimately, it is our fault, because we continue to elect the people that are responsible for our problems.

Wonder how much it really does matter who's elected when there's an over lack of accountability?