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If anyone ever drives on the Belt often (or any NYC highways or streets for that matter), you'll notice that they're littered with potholes, especially around late March.
For those who don't know, the simple reason for why potholes form is because of bad drainage. When water sinks down into the pavement, the change in weather makes it freeze and contract, then to later expand, destroying much of the road. Right now, we mainly have patch jobs that are going around the city. They will literally never end as the bad drainage makes potholes an inevitability.
Our course of action needs to change. Instead of re patching the Belt every 5 seconds, we need to rebuild it. Not repave it. I mean, the base needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. There needs to be better drainage technology, that will prevent the formation of potholes.
Will this take more time and money than a patch job? Yes, but only initially. In the very short term, yes it'll take more time to do. But, once it is done, the constant repairs you see on the Belt Parkway will be a thing of the past. And yes, the initial cost might be higher, but if you think about the costs of continuously repairing and re-patching roads, it won't be long before it pays for itself.
Won't this mean that certain sections will have to completely close for a certain amount of time? Yes, but it has been done before. Sections of road have been closed completely for construction purposes, and in fact are already planned to under the Belt Parkway bridge replacement project. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/download...wybrgs_eng.pdf
You can do small sections at a time and create detours. Will it be an inconvience for a good amount of time? Yes. But if you really think about this in terms of the long term, it's what's necessary.
The Belt?!!? Puh-leaze!! I've been suffering the hazards, construction, rebuilds, etc of the BQE for YEARS. Good Lord - I just realized I meant DECADES. They too promised that the reconstruction would address the poor drainage problems causing the pot-holes. Yeah? I double dare you to take a new car for a spin on the Westbound (although you are actually heading SOUTH if you were to consult a compass ...) side just after the Kosciuszko Bridge. People start jamming on the brakes like there was a gaggle of 2 year-olds having a play date in the middle of the road. Nope - just such a ripped up road, thanks in large part to what must be either the most corrupt or inept road workers team on the PLANET.
Seriously - the Belt is a breeze compared to the BQE. And trust me - I know the pot holes you're talking about on the Belt. Talk about taking your front-end out ... But at least it's a relatively straight road when compared with the twists and turns of the BQE. They're bad enough - but then you factor in the ripped up patches of road, the other drivers suddenly veering into you (on several sections it's REALLY narrow lanes) to avoid the pot-holes, and the tractor trailers breathing down your neck ... Yeesh! The proposal for the BQE is to put it underground. Good luck with that one!
The Belt?!!? Puh-leaze!! I've been suffering the hazards, construction, rebuilds, etc of the BQE for YEARS. Good Lord - I just realized I meant DECADES. They too promised that the reconstruction would address the poor drainage problems causing the pot-holes. Yeah? I double dare you to take a new car for a spin on the Westbound (although you are actually heading SOUTH if you were to consult a compass ...) side just after the Kosciuszko Bridge. People start jamming on the brakes like there was a gaggle of 2 year-olds having a play date in the middle of the road. Nope - just such a ripped up road, thanks in large part to what must be either the most corrupt or inept road workers team on the PLANET.
Seriously - the Belt is a breeze compared to the BQE. And trust me - I know the pot holes you're talking about on the Belt. Talk about taking your front-end out ... But at least it's a relatively straight road when compared with the twists and turns of the BQE. They're bad enough - but then you factor in the ripped up patches of road, the other drivers suddenly veering into you (on several sections it's REALLY narrow lanes) to avoid the pot-holes, and the tractor trailers breathing down your neck ... Yeesh! The proposal for the BQE is to put it underground. Good luck with that one!
The BQE is an even better example, and I know the exact stretch of potholes you're talking about, I just mentioned the Belt because I was driving on it yesterday.
I think though, if they do the rebuilding properly, it should prevent potholes. But maybe I'm living in a fantasy world where I think DOT construction projects do not have to be done shoddily?
Also, putting the BQE underground is a good idea in theory. I'm just worried with how they'd execute it.
THere's no money for infrastructure becasue we find it more important to fight 2 wars and occupy 150 countires with troops.
So the best we can hope for is some patching here and there.
THere's no money for infrastructure becasue we find it more important to fight 2 wars and occupy 150 countires with troops.
So the best we can hope for is some patching here and there.
Kefir, even when there WAS maybe some money (the Belt was begun in 1936; the BQE, I think in 1939) nothing other than shoddy repair work was done. The pot-holes which both me and Corrupt speak of have been a major headache to drivers since the 1970's. And that's just MY recollection. Politicians can talk about the hassle of closing sections of each of the roads (Lord knows it's been done countless times in the past) - but the fact remains that they can't seem to EVER get it right.
The NYCDOT is a joke. Pass any "work" crew and notice the one guy working and the other 3-4 yakking away. And for this, they'll close a lane along a mile stretch. The budget at the NYCDOT is spent on adding more bicycle lanes and tourist sitting areas in the middle of Broadway rather than fixing the gaping holes in the city streets/highways. It wouldn't matter if it were the end of the 80's again and we were all drinking champagne and riding in limos. NYCDOT would STILL screw up repair work since it appears there is little to no oversight of competent road crews and I would hazard a guess that there is a well established routine of no-show full-salaried employees, no-bid contracts awarded based on favoritism, and the list goes on.
In the period after the Korean War and before the Vietnam War we had the capital to build the core of Interstate Highway System. Then the Vietnam debacle and the patching began.
Without Wars and endless spending on the military, great things could be accomplished. There has never been a truer choice than that between GUNS OR BUTTER. It is immutable no matter how many claim we can have both. It was true for Rome, it was true for the Empires of England, France and Spain...and it is true for the Imperial United States. Guns OR Butter.
Kefir, even when there WAS maybe some money (the Belt was begun in 1936; the BQE, I think in 1939) nothing other than shoddy repair work was done. The pot-holes which both me and Corrupt speak of have been a major headache to drivers since the 1970's. And that's just MY recollection. Politicians can talk about the hassle of closing sections of each of the roads (Lord knows it's been done countless times in the past) - but the fact remains that they can't seem to EVER get it right.
The NYCDOT is a joke. Pass any "work" crew and notice the one guy working and the other 3-4 yakking away. And for this, they'll close a lane along a mile stretch. The budget at the NYCDOT is spent on adding more bicycle lanes and tourist sitting areas in the middle of Broadway rather than fixing the gaping holes in the city streets/highways. It wouldn't matter if it were the end of the 80's again and we were all drinking champagne and riding in limos. NYCDOT would STILL screw up repair work since it appears there is little to no oversight of competent road crews and I would hazard a guess that there is a well established routine of no-show full-salaried employees, no-bid contracts awarded based on favoritism, and the list goes on.
NY State Corruption at its finest.
i remember coming over those overpasses as a teenager late at night in the 1970's right before and after canarsie and being airborne in my muscle cars.
If anyone ever drives on the Belt often (or any NYC highways or streets for that matter), you'll notice that they're littered with potholes, especially around late March.
For those who don't know, the simple reason for why potholes form is because of bad drainage. When water sinks down into the pavement, the change in weather makes it freeze and contract, then to later expand, destroying much of the road. Right now, we mainly have patch jobs that are going around the city. They will literally never end as the bad drainage makes potholes an inevitability.
Our course of action needs to change. Instead of re patching the Belt every 5 seconds, we need to rebuild it. Not repave it. I mean, the base needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. There needs to be better drainage technology, that will prevent the formation of potholes.
Will this take more time and money than a patch job? Yes, but only initially. In the very short term, yes it'll take more time to do. But, once it is done, the constant repairs you see on the Belt Parkway will be a thing of the past. And yes, the initial cost might be higher, but if you think about the costs of continuously repairing and re-patching roads, it won't be long before it pays for itself.
Won't this mean that certain sections will have to completely close for a certain amount of time? Yes, but it has been done before. Sections of road have been closed completely for construction purposes, and in fact are already planned to under the Belt Parkway bridge replacement project. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/download...wybrgs_eng.pdf
You can do small sections at a time and create detours. Will it be an inconvience for a good amount of time? Yes. But if you really think about this in terms of the long term, it's what's necessary.
Thats a good recommendation, another thing that annoys me is when they do patch up the holes, they tend to do crappy work, turning a pothole into what is essentially a speed bump. Investing in drainage would save money in the long run and make the highways more driveable.
i remember coming over those overpasses as a teenager late at night in the 1970's right before and after canarsie and being airborne in my muscle cars.
LOL!! I know the feeling. Back in the '90's, I considered the BQE my very own version of the Indy 500. Driving into and out of lower Manhattan each day from Astoria, I knew every twist, turn and bump in the road. I used to have grown men (who still talk about it today!) white knuckled, begging me to slow down. NASCAR - pffttt!! When you can maintain 70 mph on that route while avoiding potholes, stretches of scarred roadway, taxi drivers hell-bent on getting to LGA on time and the merging traffic from the LIE, you KNEW you could lay claim to official status as a qualified NYC driver. Anger, mandatory!
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