The roads are disintegrating!

[Veloise]

Fulton between Fuller and Cascade is an anomaly. The south side (eastbound) lane is a bombed-out lunar landscape, while the westbound (north) lane is not. This is particularly noticable out front of the two major institutions: big potholes by Marywood, and across from the Salvation Army bus stop. Probably 75% difference in damage between the two travel lanes.

This doesn't seem to be related to the restriping (it's three lanes, with a free-floating left turn lane and an unlabeled bike lane on each side). It can't be due to heavier use eastbound, or more trucks, or anything else like that. Wonder if the contractors used a bad batch of materials, or laid the eastbound first and then changed the mix for the westbound.

For road races (running and cycling), the course managers go out and mark the bad spots. Maybe that ought to happen...stop by Fred on Plainfield, pick up some orange paint for everyone.

[aowwt]

For me I forgot how bad Burlingame is between Parrie and 36th. The road should be paved this summer but I doubt it will. They will just strip sections of it off and pave those. They did do Burlingame from 28th to Burton this past summer so maybe they will do the next section, I can only hope. Well outside of that road in Wyoming I really dont see a lot of problem streets unless you know of some. Most are in decent shape.

[NorthCoast]

Chicago drive towords hudsonville looks like a gravel road. It's the worst ever.

[michaelskis]

Ionia on the north side of I-196 should be closed. It one way about three cars wide and the out side two lanes (where cars park) looks and feels like bad gravel. The center is impassible unless your doing 5 mile an hour.

I too support the brick theory for surface roads and concrette (done right) for the freeway.

[seely]

Mostly the part that runs along the side of the street that Clark's is on, all the way to Jefferson. A car can handle it fine. Thin, two-wheeled transportation on that street can lead to flat tires...

[suydam]

Lake Drive....pretty much all of it... is so horrible I cannot begin to describe it. Especially the stretches from Fulton to Eastern and again from the Beltline to East Paris.

[cheshireguy]

Plainfield and 3 Mile - Northwest corner heading north on Plainfield - four potholes slowly stretching across the road, making them unavoidable. I think I saw a couple of German foot soldiers hiding in there the otherday. My car hates Nazis, but hates potholes even more.

[fotoman311]

Plainfield and 3 Mile - Northwest corner heading north on Plainfield - four potholes slowly stretching across the road, making them unavoidable. I think I saw a couple of German foot soldiers hiding in there the otherday. My car hates Nazis, but hates potholes even more.

[jthrasher]

Maryland N.E. between Leonard and Robinson rd. is the worst road I've seen in the city so far. It feels like you're driving in a third world country in some spots.

[GR Evil Bunny]

Talk Up GR, you've hit the nail on the head. Michigan St. east to the Beltline is a war zone. The mayor went on the news the other day and explained that he has the pothole hotline on his cell phone. So if he see a pothole he can call it in. Isn't it dangerous to drive while on the phone it may distract you from dodging the potholes?

The Road Commission knows what roads are deteriating. They know the materials used do not hold up over a long period of time in Michigan. Potholes are not a secret. Why they can not plan a little better is beyond me? When sending in their budget proposal for the year consider the worst case situation and be ready for it. I get every year the Road Commission get and talks about how they are not prepared for the winter. Blah Blah Blah

[NorthEnder]

That is bad news. They spent money and all summer tearing up and repaving that stretch from Jenison to Hudsonville.

[Quercus]

Hey, the roads could be a lot worse...like in Baghdad or something!

Oh wait...the roads over there are well-funded and kept up nicely:

[gvsusean]

Hey, the roads could be a lot worse...like in Baghdad or something!

Oh wait...the roads over there are well-funded and kept up nicely:

[Quercus]

well im sure the constant temperatures/weather had something to do with it...

[GRDadof3]

A valid point. Using materials that best fit a climate is a great idea. The autobahn experiences basically the same weather patterns as West Michigan, but it holds up fine because they invest in quality materials right off the bat. Roads around here are cheap, so the break up quickly and demand a lot more attention. Long-term investment in the roads would be a wise decision, but it costs more initially so no politicians are willing to fund it.

[aowwt]

Well dont forget the autobahn has 12" of concrete for its road surface. Here we get 6" so go figure. But the Autobahn is has also a better funded group. If you want unlimited speed kept in the rural sections of that you join the lobby that does in that country. That lobby has been compared to the NRA in the US. So with that lobby they get good funding for the roads all of the time.

[Raildudes dad]

Well dont forget the autobahn has 12" of concrete for its road surface. Here we get 6" so go figure.

[AlexPKeaton]

Actually, I believe the Autobahn is quite a bit thicker than that. My first Google hit claims it's 27 inches thick. I can't say if it's still built to that standard, or if only part of it was built that way, but I knew from some History Channel show a while back that it was more than 12 inches.

In the US, of course, we have a lot more miles to cover with lower population density. Overbuilding highways would be pretty expensive.

[Rizzo]

State to tackle potholes and other transportation problems

A 1% local sales tax for roads and transit, with each having .5%.

[ModSquad]

In regard to the comment made earlier in this post about the streets in Baghdad, my son is home right now. He spent 18 months in Baghdad driving a Humvee. Yesterday he and I were driving around quite a bit, we we headed down Hall just west of Madison the right lane is completely GONE, it is literally a gravel road. All along Hall from Madison to Division cars literally weave in and out of oncoming traffic just to avoid the massive pot holes. My son hit a rather large one and said, "honestly Dad, this is embarrassing. The roads in GR are worse than Baghdad...I feel like getting my hummer?"