Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Monkeyleg on November 09, 2009, 02:43:52 PM
-
I've been all over the country, and I can't recall any city with streets as bad as Milwaukee's. Perhaps Chicago, but it's been a few years since I ventured into that city instead of going around it.
There are very few streets here that don't have bumps and big cracks and potholes that rattle the doors off your car. My wife's car only has 45,000 miles on it, but it needs new shocks, struts, and at the minimum new bushings for control arms, etc. Last year she hit a hole and broke the belt on one of her front tires.
It's not surprising that the streets are this bad, since Milwaukee is the 5th poorest city in the country. Once you get to 124th street, where Waukesha county starts, the streets are smooth as glass.
Just curious how the streets in your town stack up.
-
I'd wager I'd be in a hurry to get my beloved Mustang out of there if the roads were that bad, too. :O
-
LOL... I've never thought about it. I'm just used to it I guess. :laugh:
I KNEW there was a reason I should have kept my '98 Jeep at the end of it's lease in 2001..
-
Lifelong Wisconsin resident here, save for the 20 year detour to strange(r) parts of the world.
I bought the Jeep for Wisconsin winter roads. I gave it a real workout, however, in Northern Illinois earlier this year. I've learned the only good Illinois roads are the approaches to the toll booths. =D
-
GW, I'm not trying to beat up on Milwaukee, but this is just the way it is. When was the last time you were in Milwaukee?
When I'm driving the Mustang I take all sorts of routes to avoid the worst roads, trying to keep the car intact. Instead of driving down Oklahoma to 76th Street when going to the gym, I head south on 43rd Street to the entrance ramp at Loomis Road, then go west to 76th Street, then north to Oklahoma. It's a few more miles, but better than the four miles of non-stop bumps and holes on Oklahoma.
I've learned the only good Illinois roads are the approaches to the toll booths.
Yes, except that they put the rumble bars in the pavement. Actually, the rumble bars are smoother than the streets in Milwaukee.
Last year, while riding my motorcycle, I was behind a car and didn't see a pothole until it was too late. I bottomed out the suspension, and also the vertebrae in my back. When I tried to get off the bike I couldn't stand up straight.
-
Road surfaces aren't bad in & around Austin, but the routing of the roads is remarkably poor; lot of "choke points' and the idiot police just LOVE to shut roads down after a crash for "accident investigation." And with the "choke points" you have to go mile and miles out of your way to go around. (I mean, even after the injured have been evac'd, even after the debris has been cleared . . . the uniformed morons with badges often keep the road closed for hours afterward - even during rush hour. Because they can.)
Just got back from LA, and the road surfaces in Burbank/Pasadena/Glendale are pretty rough.
Minnesota had two seasons - winter and road repair. And of course, they frequently tore up a road JUST before winter put a halt to all construction, so the road STAYED torn up from November through May.
-
Not too bad in Albuquerque unless I need to make a left turn... :angel:
Anyway, most of my route to work was milled and resurfaced a couple of weeks ago. Nice and smooth.
The two lane road enroute to kiddo's school was also widened over the last couple of months, making that a quicker trip as well.
Overall, not too awful bad.
-
When was the last time you were in Milwaukee?
Which time?
Brewer's game, VA Hospital, airport??? ;)
Milwaukee ain't the worst. There are indeed plenty of localities with "pavement" unfriendly to stiff-suspensioned, low-profile tired, low-slung, ground-effected automobiles. That's a risk one takes. It's also another reason I bought my Jeep. =D
-
Streets in my city are torn up everywhere for construction purposes. Must've taken millions from the bailout bill. Other than that, they tend to be pretty smooth and flat.
-
Roads near my home in Harpers Ferry Wva are in good shape. As for my hometown of Lorain, Ohio (30 miles west of Cleveland), they are rough. Hard winters take their toll on those roads. Ice, snow and snow plows tend to degrade roads quickly.
-
There are indeed plenty of localities with "pavement" unfriendly to stiff-suspensioned, low-profile tired, low-slung, ground-effected automobiles.
It's not very friendly to marshmallow's like PT Cruisers, Saturn's, my neighbor's Ford F150, or other cars I know of. ;)
In 2006 the city of Greenfield decided to tear up the streets in my area. They tore up the pavement and dug all the way down to the main sewers. It was months of dirt, noise and shaking houses. When they finished in 2007 they poured all new streets and curbs.
It looked nice for awhile, which no doubt bugged somebody at the DPW. This year they came through and gouged squiggly lines all over the streets and then patched them with black tar. When I asked the supervisor at the DPW why they did that, he said there were hairline cracks in the street. One of the patch jobs is in front of my house, and I would have seen a crack if there was one. I think they did it just to make the streets blend in with all the others in the city. ;)
-
I'll pit your Milwaukee streets against any randomly chosen in California-urban, suburban, or rural. And we don't have freezing induced potholes!
-
Especially when I am on one of my bicycles or motorcycles, I think about how bad many of the city streets are in Seattle. The surrounding communities usually have much better road surfaces.
-
My town has lots of new asphalt. Not just paved over, but scraped off and resurfaced correctly.
In general, NH has good roads, and does an excellent job of keeping them snow and ice-free during winter.
-
Covered with a half inch of fresh snow, first of the year.
-
Spokane, the city of potholes and a phenomenon I had never seen before moving up here. We have ruts in the concrete roads, particularly I-90. They look like the wagon wheel ruts you see in movies about the old west and the movement west. These ruts will actually move your car if you are unlucky enough to get in them.
Potholes, oh yea.
The Street Maintenance Division repairs thousands of potholes every year in Spokane. Potholes are common to cities that experience winter weather patterns that consist of many freeze-thaw cycles. Potholes are formed when moisture seeps into cracks in the surface of a road and freezes, causing the water to expand. When the ice thaws that space is left empty and combined with frequent or heavy traffic over the crack, causes the asphalt to break and fail.
Hopefully the potholes will be full of snow and ice soon.
bob
-
Los Angeles here. Our Mayor vowed to fill a million potholes three years ago; I think he's filled maybe a hundred. He was too busy having extra-marital affairs, though, so you can forgive him for not getting down to business.
Our thing lately is broken water mains. That's become an everyday occurrence. The unions are too busy diverting tax dollars to salary increases to worry about actually spending their income on necessary maintenance.
-
The streets in Minneapolis/St. Paul are bad. The freezing/thawing cycles do a number on our roads. They are in really bad shape by the time spring gets here.
-
Pretty good here in Columbus O. Late Winter/Early Spring is kinda rough, but it's been a long while since I've even noticed bad pavement.
-
Spokane, the city of potholes and a phenomenon I had never seen before moving up here. We have ruts in the concrete roads, particularly I-90. They look like the wagon wheel ruts you see in movies about the old west and the movement west. These ruts will actually move your car if you are unlucky enough to get in them.
Same here in Oregon, especially on the Interstates. Studded tires.
-
I live in Michigan (near Detroit), where streets were largely neglected for 25 years or so. Somebody pulled their head out of their ass about ten years ago and things have been improving, but I can't go anywhere without running into construction. My neighborhood has all new asphalt, which is nice.
-
The one thing I will say for the Milwaukee metro area is that the streets are largely laid out in a grid like God intended.
I would take the logical layout of Milwaukee and in mud/gravel over the Gordian knots that make up many Eastern seaboard cities like the D.C. Metro area with which I have some experience.
-
A little rain 'round here can result in fatal accidents here:
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/06/washedout_allegan_county_road.html
A washed-out section of Lakeshore Drive where two people died early Sunday could be temporarily repaired by week's end, Allegan County Road Commission officials said.
A deluge of rain washed out the scenic road north of 126th Avenue where a culvert runs to Lake Michigan. The chasm is about 50 to 60 feet across, but can be repaired, Road Commission Director Bill Nelson said.
-
Las Vegas streets are generally in good shape. They have a policy around here of fixing them before they fail. Saves money in the long run. The problem is that you can't go 5 blocks without hitting a construction zone. Frequently, there's no work being done, but the coneheads have passed through and taken out a lane or two. My understanding is that as long as the contractor gets the cones out, they can meet the contractual requirements on starting work by a certain date.
DD
-
Kansas City is alright.
Sure, some of the side streets can be a bit ratty, but the main roads are reasonably nice. I've never had to replace a tire due to a pothole. :P
-
I don't remember streets or highways in OR or WA being bad. Is this something new in the last couple of years?
The one thing I will say for the Milwaukee metro area is that the streets are largely laid out in a grid like God intended.
With the exception of Fond du Lac Avenue, Lisbon Avenue, Forest Home Avenue, and Teutonia Avenue, all of which run diagonally out from the center of the ghetto for a faster exit. ;)
-
Yup, there are some sorry-assed roadways out there in the nation. You'll have to do some General Lee mods to the Mustang when you hit the Alabama dirt highway system. Maybe a brush guard? :P
http://www.flickr.com/photos/riverratnb/3809278925/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPsV6oPPCsE
-
I took a pilgrimage to the CMP store in Anniston a couple years ago. I thought at least the major roads in Alabama were pretty good. We didn't go adventuring into the backwoods though.
I know a few gravel/unpaved roads in Texas, but they are typically not easy to get to or on private land. Most of the roads I have seen in Texas are in pretty decent shape.
-
GW, we were just down in Alabama in August, and the roads were beautiful. We weren't doing any trips into the woods or stuff like that, but we got out into farm country and didn't notice any bumps.
-
GW, we were just down in Alabama in August, and the roads were beautiful. We weren't doing any trips into the woods or stuff like that, but we got out into farm country and didn't notice any bumps.
But they probably aren't bathed in salt all winter long, or plowed every other day.
I don't know if freeways fit into this discussion, but I've been shocked by the construction on Highway 64/40 out here. In the first phase, they shut down a few miles (both lanes) and actually re-opened early. :O They're about to complete the next phase early, too, and under-budget. Yes, under budget.
Apparently, their success is due to some crazy thing called "design-build."
The whole Saint Louis area was braced for massive gridlock on the alternate routes, and websites were put up to help people find other ways to get to work and such. But from what I've heard, it really hasn't been all that bad.
These are such bizarre happenings, I half expect the four horsemen to come galloping down the newly-opened freeway next month.
-
But they probably aren't bathed in salt all winter long, or plowed every other day.
I realize that winter takes a heavy toll on the roads. I was just trying to point out that the roads we experienced on our trip weren't like dirt side roads leading to Jed Clampett's house.
-
I work on Milwaukee's East Side. There are three direct ways to get out- North Avenue-->HWY 43, Locust Street---->HWY 43, Lafayette--->Lincoln Memorial---->I94. I have to use one of the first two to get to Cedarburg at the end of the day to pick up my kids. North Ave and Locust Streets look like they were shelled by artillery, Lafayette, isn't any better. I broke the front sway bar on my Grand Prix on North avenue one day(the say bar is about 3/4" dimeter steel bar). To top that off, a huge chunk (40-50' diameter iirc)of Lucust street fell into a sink hole one day- about an hour after after I drove over the same spot.
-
I work on Milwaukee's East Side. There are three direct ways to get out- North Avenue-->HWY 43, Locust Street---->HWY 43, Lafayette--->Lincoln Memorial---->I94. I have to use one of the first two to get to Cedarburg at the end of the day to pick up my kids. North Ave and Locust Streets look like they were shelled by artillery, Lafayette, isn't any better. I broke the front sway bar on my Grand Prix on North avenue one day(the say bar is about 3/4" dimeter steel bar). To top that off, a huge chunk (40-50' diameter iirc)of Lucust street fell into a sink hole one day- about an hour after after I drove over the same spot.
And once you get out of the 3-4 marginaly decent blocks of "Riverwest" where the last remnants of East-Side "college/bohemian" gives way to plain old "ghetto", when going west on those streets towards I-43, it's nowhwere you'd want to break down.
I almost have to wonder if shall-issue CCW might provide a minor boost to the inner-city economy.
Monkeyleg knows first hand from almost being lynched at a community meeting, that much of the Inner City views shall-issue CCW as "hunting licenses" on their habitually criminal children. However, I wonder if a modest percentage of travel and suburban money might start making it's way through Milwaukee's north-side core again, if people weren't afraid to actually cross it, or actualy patronize whatever business actually is there.
The slightly smaller south-side Hispanic-dominated core at least has some businesses and economic activity like the popular Mexican resturaunts, and the retro-shopping on Mitchell Ave. And while it's still noticably depressed as compared to the burbs, downtown, the East Side, or the Third Ward, that seems to keep it from devolving into complete blight/flight.
CCW might just give a teeny boost to the north side in the same way.
Or they can fill the potholes and maybe people will feel less likely they'll break down in the worst part of town... =D
-
And once you get out of the 3-4 marginaly decent blocks of "Riverwest" where the last remnants of East-Side "college/bohemian" gives way to plain old "ghetto", when going west on those streets towards I-43, it's nowhwere you'd want to break down
Yeah, I had a moment with some pucker factor when I had my car in the shop on Holton AVE, about 4 blocks north of Locust. I was on my bike when I went in to pay the bill. When I left the shop to go south to locust, my bike stalled out 2 blocks from Locust. I thought it was my ignition module that crapped out because the engine was having some timing issues, but it turned out that I forgot to turn the petcock back on. Nothing like pulling up to a curb there frantically trying to restart a bike when there is a group of homies 20 feet away eyeing you and your ride up. :O
edit: that street was bad/rough too.
I used to take Fondulac ave (another pothole riddled street) to HWY 45, but don't anymore after having a beer bottle thrown at me around center street. With the car/truck I could potentially keep things that go boom out of sight/mind, but its not as easy on a bike.
-
Quad Cities, IA/IL.
Truly awful roads.
-
Quad Cities, IA/IL.
Truly awful roads.
I live in Northeastern Illinois (Chicago and Suburbs).....The roads that aren't torn up due to construction are just torn up.
-
I lived on the lower east side (Humboldt and Kane) 39 years ago. I don't think they've fixed the streets in that area since before I lived there.
As for carrying in the inner city, I wouldn't go there, permit or no permit. Why go someplace knowing that you stand a good chance of having to shoot someone and be late for dinner? ;)
-
As for carrying in the inner city, I wouldn't go there, permit or no permit. Why go someplace knowing that you stand a good chance of having to shoot someone and be late for dinner?
Where else can you get an education about junkies, bums, hookers, and various other denizens of the ghetto?
Then there's always a pretty good chance that you might get diverted off one of the 'nice' streets like FDL ave at 11:30 PM onto some of the more interesting side streets because the police have the block cordoned off after a shooting at a stop&rob.
You're right, its not worth it.