[AtE] Condition of Highways

[Warlockco]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

110 mile long driveway? I know you Canadians have silly amounts of space... but that's ludicrous!

Meters, those heathens use metric... >.>

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by starslayer

As a fellow Ottawa denzien with a 110m long driveway and a few acres of farmland, I can absolutely agree.

Couple the staggering amount of salt that the city uses each winter with the freeze/thaw/flood cycle and its a wonder roads last more than one winter.

(looks at the condition of Hunt Club Rd.) What roads around here last more than one winter?

Originally Posted by evileeyore

110 mile long driveway? I know you Canadians have silly amounts of space... but that's ludicrous!

There's a reason we like snowblowers... <g>

(Yeah, that's "m" as in meter, not "mi" as in mile.)

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by robkelk

There's a reason we like snowblowers... <g>

(Yeah, that's "m" as in meter, not "mi" as in mile.)

I would probabaly kill myself (not in rage or anything, from exaustion or mishap) if I tried to do the driveway via snowblower.... No. I have a tractor for that, and even then its sometimes not enough forcing me to beg the neighbor across the street with his 4wd tractor to bail me out (I am looking at you 55cm snowfall just past new years!).

I suppose this is still on the topic of roads- but a dirt/gravel road can actually be maintained for 'safe' 60km/hr travel with a good grader. However it takes a skilled welder and materials to build a good grader (my current efforts of just tipping the tractor bucket and dragging the driveway work, but not 'good grader' well).

[Boomerang]

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead.

How long would a highway through a tropical rainforest last without maintainence? Would such a road still be reasonably intact after 10 years of light traffic?

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead.

How long would a highway through a tropical rainforest last without maintainence? Would such a road still be reasonably intact after 10 years of light traffic?

Depends on how it was built: A good wide paved road with clearance on both sides? It's still driveable after 10 years*. A quick cut 'dirt' road through a forest barely wider than a vehicle? Probably won't last the year.

* Even a dirt road will last a bit, it's the rainy season in Brazil that makes dirt roads undriveable, not encroaching flora.

[Boomerang]

Thanks for the information!

[(E)]

Another way of looking at it might be a chance of blockage per (unit of distance) per major weather event since last maintained.

Say (big GM variable here) 1 major event per annum and 20 years since it was maintained equals a major blockage on a roll of 6 or less and poor surface on a roll of 10 or less.

Just a thought

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Thanks for the information!

Note: Most roads in the Amazon rainforest are unpaved! They only really need grading after each rain season, and without those rains would last several years without needing regrading. Even then it's the traffic that would erode the road the fastest. It takes at least a decade for trees and ground flora to encroach on a decently cut unused dirt road. It really is rain and use that damage them fastest... and after one good rainy season a dirt road is almost useless*, except that it's still pretty clear of underbrush (fallen trees and such thoguh would be a hazard).



* It's still driveable in flat lands. It's hills and mountains where wash outs will actually remove the road and return it to a slope. Even a well paved road can be washed out in a severe storm if it hasn't been properly maintained for years.

[dripton]

Here are some pictures of a part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike that's been abandoned since 1968:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abando...vania_Turnpike

Looks better than you'd expect. But keep in mind that it was a very major highway at the time.