Broken Arrow expressway, newish asphalt

[Townsend]

So I'm starting to hit pot holes on the new asphalt around the Harvard - Peoria curve and near Yale on the Broken Arrow expressway.  I understand our weather is conducive to road breakage but couldn't someone have had the forethought to increase the depth of the new asphalt to make it last at least one year?

Am I expecting too much?

I've got nothing constructive here.  Just a bad taste in my mouth from wasted road work.

[cannon_fodder]

Argh.  I haven't noticed that yet.  If true, then something definitely wasn't done right.  If I'm not mistaken, that new cap hasn't even seen a winter yet.

[PepePeru]

Makes no sense why neighborhood streets (Florence Av @ 21st) are constructed with concrete and our major streets and expressways with asphalt that falls apart in 6 months...

Florence @ 21st looks fantastic and 50 cars a day drive on it?

Really an amazing use of resources. 

[Conan71]

They've concreted my side street.  Too bad they can't afford to do it all over town.  Much nicer and more durable.  Maybe it's not feasible or as durable with the kind of traffic count the BA gets every day.

[PepePeru]

They've concreted my side street.  Too bad they can't afford to do it all over town.  Much nicer and more durable.  Maybe it's not feasible or as durable with the kind of traffic count the BA gets every day.

I just want to check...you HAVE visited other cities with freeways before?
Right?
Surely you have.

[Conan71]

I just want to check...you HAVE visited other cities with freeways before?
Right?
Surely you have.

No, never. 

[tshane250]

I think the problem is they simply lay the asphalt onto the surface below without doing any subsurface prep.  If they were to put grooves in the material below the asphalt that would increase the surface area and give the asphalt more to cling to.  As it is now, the asphalt pretty much just lays on the surface below it.  Just my opinion though. 

[Townsend]

I think the problem is they simply lay the asphalt onto the surface below without doing any subsurface prep.  If they were to put grooves in the material below the asphalt that would increase the surface area and give the asphalt more to cling to.  As it is now, the asphalt pretty much just lays on the surface below it.  Just my opinion though. 

In this case I believe they had stripped away the top layer before the new was placed.

Was this set up by the guys that have been charged with taking money?

[DTowner]

A year ago substantial work was done on BA Expressway bridge decking and repaved between 21st & Lewis.  In the last month or so, several pot holes have appeared in the west bound lane just before Lewis.  Whatever the cause and whoever is to blame, it is very irritating and completely unexcusable.  Maybe the state should get a one-year warranty from the contractor.

[Conan71]

I think the problem is they simply lay the asphalt onto the surface below without doing any subsurface prep.  If they were to put grooves in the material below the asphalt that would increase the surface area and give the asphalt more to cling to.  As it is now, the asphalt pretty much just lays on the surface below it.  Just my opinion though. 

I'm 95% sure all this was milled prior to re-paving.  I had to deal with it daily as they were paving it (well they were actually working at night.)

[tshane250]

I'm 95% sure all this was milled prior to re-paving.  I had to deal with it daily as they were paving it (well they were actually working at night.)

Well, color me baffled!  I have no clue then why the asphalt would already be failing.   

[TulsaSooner]

I drive this highway every day as well and I am almost certain they did not do any prep to or remove any of the existing asphalt.  They simply covered it with a VERY thin layer of asphalt.  This is one reason why the work was done so quickly.

That is my recollection anyway.   

[nathanm]

Well, color me baffled!  I have no clue then why the asphalt would already be failing.   

Either there were voids in the asphalt as it was laid, or the old road that they partially milled off was left to rot for so long it can no longer bear the load of traffic.

My money is on the latter.

At some point, the road gets so messed up that even the subsurface layers are shot. Then you have to completely remove the entire road, (the concrete, gravel, and the packed soil beneath that) and rebuild it from scratch. That's why Arkansas ended up spending over a billion dollars back in the mid-to-late 90s on rehabbing I-40 across the state. They refused to maintain the road often enough over the years to let it get bad enough it couldn't be saved.

What seems to be optimal from a permanence standpoint, by the way, is asphalt over concrete. First you build a concrete road, like most of 169 or the Creek and let it harden for a few years. Then you come back and lay a few inches of asphalt on top of that and mill and relay that layer every 3-4 years. It makes for an essentially permanent subsurface structure, vastly reducing overall maintenance costs at the expense of having to do a quick overlay every so often.

People here like to blame the climate, but the real problem is a lack of maintenance. The potholes and cracked pavement we leave to sit for years before being repaired allow rainwater to seep in and undermine the integrity of the entire road.

[Red Arrow]

I would like to know if the State's specs for asphalt have been improved over the years or not.  In the late 70s, the only asphalt allowed to be used was the State Spec stuff which was not the best available.  Guarantee for roads that don't last.

[Conan71]

I'll put it this way, take a good look under the 15th or 21st St. bridges under the BA.  I'd imagine the rest of the underlayment from Yale to Utica looks pretty much like that.  They jack-hammered out a lot of holes when they were "fixing" it last year.  I actually do like the quick-set concrete patches they used on the BA through downtown, hopefully they will be durable.