Pit-Hole.. revenge of the Pothole and a crumbling city- SOS-Fed Stimuli ? And Your reports... (Pittsburgh: apartment, contractors)

[Bizowner00]

On the heals of the great snow and the spring thaw, city pavement is breaking down like never before. Beware of the auto eating pothole ! Pittsburgh with it's budget woes and fiscal disaster state of mind claims that only a fraction of needed paving and patching with be done this spring and summer. For those of us that enjoy nice auto's the reality is, Pittsburgh is no place for sport and high performance cars.
The terrible state of city roads goes beyond being a threat to drivers. Beware downtown of the cross walk areas. Ankle spraining and bone breaking holes await your every move! jagged curb sides also would like a chance to puncture your skin. And we haven't even touched on the water line system ready to implode-explode.
And while our city continues to break down in infrastructure I continue to wonder why our brilliant kid mayor, city council and maybe soon to be governor, don't press Washington-Obama for emergency stimulus money for holding the city together. If the fed's can pave a good condition 8 mile bike path on Nantucket with stimulus money then Pittsburgh should be able to repair the 26 inch long X 18 inch wide and 22 inch pot hole on the Blvd of the Allies across from PPG. If you see a nasty hole out there or some other crumbling piece of our city. Post it here. Describe it and identify! It might help us all cope. And remember to tred with caution in Pit-Hole !

[nuwaver88]

Isn't Pit Hole up near Oil City and Drake Well?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pithole,_Pennsylvania

[Bizowner00]

ok make it Pitt Hole. Fish Commission looking for deep enough pot's for stocking. Any good tire busting holes in the east end that might hold some rainbow or brown trout?

[Tirade]

On a related note, you can report potholes to the city using this convenient form:

Report a Pothole

[epitathpunk]

I am a pavement contractor. The formation of potholes in asphalt has very little to do with freeze/thaw cycles. The only thing that ice does is exacerbate the severity of an existing pothole, making it wider and deeper. The initial material failure is due primarily to the misuse of solvents as a release agent in the dump trucks that laid the asphalt in the first place.

Some pavement contractors and municipalities opt to use diesel fuel instead of a non-solvent provided by the asphalt plant as a release agent. The reason for this is that diesel fuel is far more efficient. However, as a solvent, it breaks down the binder in the pavement. When the material is dumped into the paver, pockets of bad asphalt form. Over time, these areas simply begin to unravel, thus forming potholes.

This is why you'll see potholes as far south as Key West, FL (where it NEVER freezes). Diesel fuel used as a release agent is the primary catalyst in the formation of potholes. Not cold weather.

Apparently in the Pittsburgh area, Diesel is the #1 release agent that most road paving crews prefer, hence all the potholes. If you don't believe me, then go to Milwaukee or even up in Canada (where there's MAJOR fines if you're caught greasing your dump trucks with Diesel fuel due to environmental restrictions). Far less potholes than Pittsburgh.

[Bizowner00]

epitathpunk, I will agree with you that I have seen far fewer potholes in the upper Midwest and Canada when compared to Pittsburgh.

[captainmidnight]

Originally Posted by epitathpunk

I am a pavement contractor. The formation of potholes in asphalt has very little to do with freeze/thaw cycles. The only thing that ice does is exacerbate the severity of an existing pothole, making it wider and deeper. The initial material failure is due primarily to the misuse of solvents as a release agent in the dump trucks that laid the asphalt in the first place.

Some pavement contractors and municipalities opt to use diesel fuel instead of a non-solvent provided by the asphalt plant as a release agent. The reason for this is that diesel fuel is far more efficient. However, as a solvent, it breaks down the binder in the pavement. When the material is dumped into the paver, pockets of bad asphalt form. Over time, these areas simply begin to unravel, thus forming potholes.

This is why you'll see potholes as far south as Key West, FL (where it NEVER freezes). Diesel fuel used as a release agent is the primary catalyst in the formation of potholes. Not cold weather.

Apparently in the Pittsburgh area, Diesel is the #1 release agent that most road paving crews prefer, hence all the potholes. If you don't believe me, then go to Milwaukee or even up in Canada (where there's MAJOR fines if you're caught greasing your dump trucks with Diesel fuel due to environmental restrictions). Far less potholes than Pittsburgh.

Interesting information. By "efficient", do you mean faster and/or cheaper?

[fleetiebelle]

This is always an option: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/06/artist-pete-dungey-turns-potholes-into-guerrilla-gardens/ (broken link)

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by epitathpunk

I am a pavement contractor. The formation of potholes in asphalt has very little to do with freeze/thaw cycles. The only thing that ice does is exacerbate the severity of an existing pothole, making it wider and deeper. The initial material failure is due primarily to the misuse of solvents as a release agent in the dump trucks that laid the asphalt in the first place.

Some pavement contractors and municipalities opt to use diesel fuel instead of a non-solvent provided by the asphalt plant as a release agent. The reason for this is that diesel fuel is far more efficient. However, as a solvent, it breaks down the binder in the pavement. When the material is dumped into the paver, pockets of bad asphalt form. Over time, these areas simply begin to unravel, thus forming potholes.

This is why you'll see potholes as far south as Key West, FL (where it NEVER freezes). Diesel fuel used as a release agent is the primary catalyst in the formation of potholes. Not cold weather.

Apparently in the Pittsburgh area, Diesel is the #1 release agent that most road paving crews prefer, hence all the potholes. If you don't believe me, then go to Milwaukee or even up in Canada (where there's MAJOR fines if you're caught greasing your dump trucks with Diesel fuel due to environmental restrictions). Far less potholes than Pittsburgh.

Could you be a little more specific?

[epitathpunk]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

Interesting information. By "efficient", do you mean faster and/or cheaper?

Hot mix asphalt sticks to everything like the black plague, including the beds of the dump trucks. The eco-friendly soapy solution that's offered free at the asphalt plants, acts as a release agent in the beds of the trucks. Before a truck is loaded, the beds are "soaped". This ensures that all of the material will come out when the bed is lifted. The only problem is that it doesn't always work properly, and there are large chunks of asphalt left in the corners of the dump bed. Over time it builds up, and becomes a real headache.

So as an alternative to the soap, many blacktoppers just opt to spray down the beds with diesel fuel, which is an excellent release agent. The only problem is that it's also a solvent (which the soap is not), therefore it dissolves some of the binder in the load of material. It's not cheaper (diesel costs $3 something/gallon vs. the fact that the soap is free), but it makes life easier for the contractor.