Yesterday, 10:55 AM
First of all, bravo to these folks for taking matters into their own hands... however... 2 things:
1 - Along with doing the work that the state should be doing as part of it's "contractual" (yeah, I know) obligations, there should be a tax revolt at the same time.
2 - They're not doing it right. They're using what is called "cold patch", which can't just be dumped into a hole and patted down with a shovel with the expectation that it will hold up. That will last about 10 or so vehicle transverses before it's squeezed out of the depression and ultimately will have been a waste of time. you can definitely use cold patch to fill in a pothole, but you have to put it in correctly. Depending on the depth of the pothole, the cold patch should be laid in in layers, and a vibra-plate should be used to tamp it into place... repeat until you come to surface (in most cases with a pothole, it's going to be one layer). And while cold patch would probably get it done for a year, maybe 2, in a warm climate like this, the best solution really would be to saw-cut around the depression and lay in hot asphalt that is vibra-plated into place.
And for the record, most of the potholes that we deal with are a result of poor construction. There's really no reason that potholes should exist in roads that are no less than 10 years old... it just takes proper engineering, which should specify proper subgrade installation (undercut, compaction, etc.) and appropriate lifts of hot patch are installed to spec'd compaction parameters.
I do appreciate and admire what these folks are doing, but ultimately it's going to prove no better than what the incompetent state is doing. If we're going to do the whole, "we can do whatever the state does only better", thing, then we should actually do it better. Don't get me wrong - I admire what they're doing, but if you're going to do it, do it right. Google can be your friend. Or find a like-minded local contractor willing to get involved. Just don't make the movement look bad.
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