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Old 09-29-2007, 11:53 AM
 
8 posts, read 25,728 times
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I'm about to move to San Antonio. I've accepted a job offer that's around the Oak Hills Country Club and the Methodist Specialty Hospital.

I visited for a weekend, but I didn't have tons of time so I figured I'd ask questions here.

Are all the roads kind of... cracked and in general bad shape?

I had always heard Texas has great smooth roads, but I didn't really find that when I went down there. Lots of cracks and bumps and so on. And the sidewalks had weeds growing up through them and in general it seemed like the area was a bit rundown.

I guess I'm just wondering if I missed the nicer parts of town. I focused on an area no farther than ten miles away from my work.

Thanks for any help.
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Old 09-29-2007, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Western Bexar County
3,823 posts, read 14,628,362 times
Reputation: 1943
This has been a bad year for roads with all the rain. Generally, the highways get the most attention and eventually residential roads get a refreshing about every 20 years. As for weeds in sidewalks, you better get used to that. I don't like it, but not much you can do. If it is too high on public property (city/county) you can call it in.
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Old 09-29-2007, 01:35 PM
 
Location: Wiesbaden, Germany
13,815 posts, read 29,288,471 times
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it's true that the weather this summer was very pothole friendly, but SA does not have very good roads as a whole. That was one of the first things I noticed when I moved here in 2001 and your car's suspension is going to hate it. Some roads are really nice like most of 1604 on the north, west and NW side (I have never driven the other parts so I can't say anything about them good or bad). The more local roads tend to be bad-awful-downright crappy, depending on where you are. My friend and I were in the Mervyns by Ingram Park mall parking lot the other day and were wondering why this lady suddenly stopped and made this huge turn in the road, then we saw the crater she was avoiding.. it was at least 2 feet in diameter and would've eaten a wheel with no problem.

So basically some roads are ok or good, but it seems the majority of them appear to be built by monkeys or something, epecially in the flatness department. Some roads (Ray Ellison/Hunt Lane between Marbach and Medina Base Rd.) is so bumpy that there are sections you can literally get airborn on. I have no idea what sort of crack the "engineer" was smoking when they graded that road, but hopefully they were fired...
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Old 09-29-2007, 04:08 PM
 
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Thanks guys. That's very disappointing.

I was hoping that there were nice roads there that I was just not seeing. I'm coming from Los Angeles and the roads here are pretty bad too. I was looking forward to nice roads (I'm originally from Florida where the roads are very nice) but I guess that's not going to happen for me
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Old 09-29-2007, 04:15 PM
 
Location: Wiesbaden, Germany
13,815 posts, read 29,288,471 times
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well, you've gotta think about the temperature extremes and Florida and Texas are pretty rough on the roads.. just imagine what your body would be like if it had to spend a couple years outside in either of those states..

BTW, SoCal freeways are a million times better than the ones here. I'm pretty sure the ones there are made of concrete and the ones here are made from potholes.. (asphalt)
not sure if that's a weather thing also, but it's the way it is
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Old 09-29-2007, 04:21 PM
 
14,637 posts, read 34,902,336 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rd2007 View Post
it's true that the weather this summer was very pothole friendly, but SA does not have very good roads as a whole. That was one of the first things I noticed when I moved here in 2001 and your car's suspension is going to hate it. Some roads are really nice like most of 1604 on the north, west and NW side (I have never driven the other parts so I can't say anything about them good or bad). The more local roads tend to be bad-awful-downright crappy, depending on where you are. My friend and I were in the Mervyns by Ingram Park mall parking lot the other day and were wondering why this lady suddenly stopped and made this huge turn in the road, then we saw the crater she was avoiding.. it was at least 2 feet in diameter and would've eaten a wheel with no problem.

So basically some roads are ok or good, but it seems the majority of them appear to be built by monkeys or something, epecially in the flatness department. Some roads (Ray Ellison/Hunt Lane between Marbach and Medina Base Rd.) is so bumpy that there are sections you can literally get airborn on. I have no idea what sort of crack the "engineer" was smoking when they graded that road, but hopefully they were fired...
If I remember correctly, those Ray Ellison roads are all built on an old landfill and that is the excuse for the bumpiness. I have gotten airborne on Marbach more times than I care to remember!
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Old 09-29-2007, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Wiesbaden, Germany
13,815 posts, read 29,288,471 times
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ahh, I was going to say it appears that road is built on a land fill, because that's usually how they turn out.. guess that explains that one then

I used to work on Medina and would go 1604/90/Ellison every day and my suspension was trashed after a few months. It basically ruined two brand new cars and that didn't really make me happy.. I also had a pothole on Hunt Ln. between Marbach and Potranco rip my tire and dent the wheel. Best thing was it was a $225 tire with not even 10K miles on it.. that didn't make me happy either..
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Old 09-29-2007, 06:05 PM
 
Location: San Antonio Texas
11,431 posts, read 18,933,448 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Imatk View Post
I'm about to move to San Antonio. I've accepted a job offer that's around the Oak Hills Country Club and the Methodist Specialty Hospital.

I visited for a weekend, but I didn't have tons of time so I figured I'd ask questions here.

Are all the roads kind of... cracked and in general bad shape?

I had always heard Texas has great smooth roads, but I didn't really find that when I went down there. Lots of cracks and bumps and so on. And the sidewalks had weeds growing up through them and in general it seemed like the area was a bit rundown.

I guess I'm just wondering if I missed the nicer parts of town. I focused on an area no farther than ten miles away from my work.

Thanks for any help.
I have been told that the soil north of 1604 is primarily limestone and very solid. the more southern areas from there are caliche, which is not solid, which results in the bumps. the heat and excess rain doesn't help either.
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Old 09-29-2007, 07:47 PM
 
8 posts, read 25,728 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by rd2007 View Post
well, you've gotta think about the temperature extremes and Florida and Texas are pretty rough on the roads.. just imagine what your body would be like if it had to spend a couple years outside in either of those states..

BTW, SoCal freeways are a million times better than the ones here. I'm pretty sure the ones there are made of concrete and the ones here are made from potholes.. (asphalt)
not sure if that's a weather thing also, but it's the way it is
Yeah the freeways did seem very narrow there. That was the main thing that struck me. They all seemed to be under construction.

The roads in Florida are pristine. I think they either have better engineers or just more money but I've not lived in a state with nicer roads than Florida.

I was hoping Texas would be similar but oh well
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Old 09-29-2007, 10:35 PM
 
6,351 posts, read 21,479,297 times
Reputation: 10007
SA's service roads and VERY short freeway on-ramps sure took some getting used to for me...
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