the Roads of Mississippi: Is it possible to sue the state for such bad roads? (buying, restaurants)

[KaoCT]

Originally Posted by FreePress601

Oh I doubt that. You coudn't have driven all over Mississippi and not hit one pothole or catch a pebble to the windwhield. the roads are horrible. on the level of Lousiana tbh.

I'm sure we did but nothing that made me think "geez, these roads are awful". On the other hand, I hit tons of teeth-rattling potholes and bumps on CT highways and roads on the way in to work every day. Especially Hartford streets.

One thing I like about the state roads is MS is the reflectors between the yellow lines. Helps alot.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by FreePress601

We pay through the nose for taxes on our automobiles and registration, but the roads are like Beirut in Mississippi.

WHY????

And is it possible to sue the state so they can get off their butts and fix them?

We are paying entirely too much in taxes not to have nice roads in this state

To answer your question literally "is it possible to sue the state". The answer is no.
The concept is called sovereign immunity and has been upheld in the Suprement Court. You may have limited legal suit abilities for lower than state levels, but certainly not something as frivolous like this unless a serious offense, other than "being pissed", occured.

Time to start a new post:
"Is this an accurate portrayal of MS roads?"

[FreePress601]

Originally Posted by KaoCT

I'm sure we did but nothing that made me think "geez, these roads are awful". On the other hand, I hit tons of teeth-rattling potholes and bumps on CT highways and roads on the way in to work every day. Especially Hartford streets.

One thing I like about the state roads is MS is the reflectors between the yellow lines. Helps alot.

I've never beeen to CT, but I suspect the water table is the reason for the crappy roads up there.

But there is NO REASON why Mississippi roads shouldn't be on the level with Texas or Tennessee roads. some of the best roads in the nation. Even Georgia with all the sinkholes and clay still find it in the budget to fix their roads pronto.

You ride down i-55 south headed to Byram or go 49 south to Hattiesburg or even I-10 West to Vicksburg, you'll swear you were on the worst rollercoaster in the country....WOODEN Rollercoaster at that....

I'm Surpised the Mississippi bridge in Vicksbrug is still crossable.

Mississippi got money to fix, they just won't...too busy trying to take credit for a balanced budget....yeah right.

[An Einnseanair]

Anyone can sue anyone else, even an government entity. Not saying you can win, or that it won't be thrown out, or that the state can't claim immunity, just that if you want to pay a lawyer lots of money (assuming you can convince one to take your case) you can file a lawsuit.

So who gets the money if you win? You? Or are you starting a class-action lawsuit to force the state to pay taxpayers back a portion of the taxes the state collected? If you can name a specific instance where you were caused financial harm by MS roads, and can prove state negligence (unlikely), then you might win a personal lawsuit. That being said, your best bet for this would be in some sort of legal forum and NOT in a forum devoted to "Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions" such as this one.

I fail to see how a lawsuit will do anything but hurt the state, and I fail to see how it will convince any lawmaker to do anything different from what they are doing now.

The 4-lanes you named are some of the oldest in the state, and they were built using a common design at the time, but after several decades of building roads like this they realized that there was a flaw in the design (unreinforced portland-cement concrete, without dowels at the contraction joints). Almost every state in the nation has roads like this, and MS is FAR from the worst. Drive I-59 through Alabama if you doubt me. As for "fixing" them, if you can come up with a reasonable solution to this problem you can become a billionaire. The only current way to fully fix it is to completely demolish the road (VERY expensive with hard concrete) and start over. It's what they're doing to I-59 just north of Gadsden, AL.

Just curious, but where are the roads that you are complaining about? Do you see this problem all over the state, or is it local? Are they actually state roads, or federal, or county?

[FreePress601]

Originally Posted by Dd714

To answer your question literally "is it possible to sue the state". The answer is no.
The concept is called sovereign immunity and has been upheld in the Suprement Court. You may have limited legal suit abilities for lower than state levels, but certainly not something as frivolous like this unless a serious offense, other than "being pissed", occured.

Time to start a new post:
"Is this an accurate portrayal of MS roads?"

So in a nutshell, somebody has to flip their car and die on these roads before they will be fixed? because asking them doesn't help. that's been tried a thousand times.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by FreePress601

So in a nutshell, somebody has to flip their car and die on these roads before they will be fixed? because asking them doesn't help. that's been tried a thousand times.

There is of course other methods to address this besides lawsuits unless you have some strange need to fund a lawyers next Porche - your representatives are elected, start there, at the polling booth. Write letters to your representative, attend local city board meetings, start petitions, write to your newspapers...etc.

I personally, living in N. MS, don't find the roads particularly bad. Now, I go over the state lines into Memphis - THAT'S bad.

[An Einnseanair]

Originally Posted by FreePress601

But there is NO REASON why Mississippi roads shouldn't be on the level with Texas or Tennessee roads. some of the best roads in the nation. Even Georgia with all the sinkholes and clay still find it in the budget to fix their roads pronto.

You ride down i-55 south headed to Byram or go 49 south to Hattiesburg or even I-10 West to Vicksburg, you'll swear you were on the worst rollercoaster in the country....WOODEN Rollercoaster at that....

I'm Surpised the Mississippi bridge in Vicksbrug is still crossable.

Mississippi got money to fix, they just won't...too busy trying to take credit for a balanced budget....yeah right.

You answered my earlier question, so I'll reply again. Again, you named some of the oldest 4-lanes in the state. It's VERY expensive to "fix" a concrete road.

And assuming you mean I-20 West toward Vicksburg, that's the heart of the Yazoo Clay area. Yazoo Clay is known as some of the most expansive natural material in the country. Believe it or not, when the built the road it was level. The ground under the road swells and/or shrinks causing the roller-coaster effect. And and it does this again and again every year depending on groundwater, rainfall, etc. The only way to "fix" it would be to spend BILLIONS either constructing a bridge from Jackson to Vicksburg (think the bridges through the swamps in LA), or else pay to dig up and dispose of billions of tons of "bad" clay and replace it with "good" material (hard to find and expensive in that area).

[FreePress601]

Originally Posted by jwkilgore

Anyone can sue anyone else, even an government entity. Not saying you can win, or that it won't be thrown out, or that the state can't claim immunity, just that if you want to pay a lawyer lots of money (assuming you can convince one to take your case) you can file a lawsuit.

So who gets the money if you win? You? Or are you starting a class-action lawsuit to force the state to pay taxpayers back a portion of the taxes the state collected? If you can name a specific instance where you were caused financial harm by MS roads, and can prove state negligence (unlikely), then you might win a personal lawsuit. That being said, your best bet for this would be in some sort of legal forum and NOT in a forum devoted to "Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions" such as this one.

I fail to see how a lawsuit will do anything but hurt the state, and I fail to see how it will convince any lawmaker to do anything different from what they are doing now.

The 4-lanes you named are some of the oldest in the state, and they were built using a common design at the time, but after several decades of building roads like this they realized that there was a flaw in the design (unreinforced portland-cement concrete, without dowels at the contraction joints). Almost every state in the nation has roads like this, and MS is FAR from the worst. Drive I-59 through Alabama if you doubt me. As for "fixing" them, if you can come up with a reasonable solution to this problem you can become a billionaire. The only current way to fully fix it is to completely demolish the road (VERY expensive with hard concrete) and start over. It's what they're doing to I-59 just north of Gadsden, AL.

Just curious, but where are the roads that you are complaining about? Do you see this problem all over the state, or is it local? Are they actually state roads, or federal, or county?

I want to go class action since we pay a boatload for our cars and tags but the roads are still poopy. I'm sure I can get 500,000 signatures easy.

I'm not the only one thinking like this. we pay too damn much in car tags as it is...mine cost me $450 bucks... A LICENSE PLATE?...YES. and I'm not alone either.

Something has to be done. and done soon.

The problem is mostly when you enter a city or town in Mississippi. From Jackson to Gulport to Philadelphia to Corinth, don't matter, trashy roads. you know whern you're getting close to a city or town because the roads start to break up and get real choppy. Then, once inside a city , bang...bang...rocks flying..tires jumping..everything. I live in Jackson so I can speak on Jackson the most, unbelievably terrible. they don't fix roads in Jackson, they just patch em up...So every street looks like it has polka dots on it....lol

For the most part, the open highway roads in Mississippi are decent, not great, just decent.

[FreePress601]

Originally Posted by jwkilgore

You answered my earlier question, so I'll reply again. Again, you named some of the oldest 4-lanes in the state. It's VERY expensive to "fix" a concrete road.

And assuming you mean I-20 West toward Vicksburg, that's the heart of the Yazoo Clay area. Yazoo Clay is known as some of the most expansive natural material in the country. Believe it or not, when the built the road it was level. The ground under the road swells and/or shrinks causing the roller-coaster effect. And and it does this again and again every year depending on groundwater, rainfall, etc. The only way to "fix" it would be to spend BILLIONS either constructing a bridge from Jackson to Vicksburg (think the bridges through the swamps in LA), or else pay to dig up and dispose of billions of tons of "bad" clay and replace it with "good" material (hard to find and expensive in that area).

They can "stack" black top on it and that would help it for at least 5-10 years.

and I agree that concrete will be there long after we're all dead...lol..it's holding court literally...lol

[Ghengis]

I'd like to see pictures if they're really that bad, otherwise I'd say they are good to go. Better to spend the money on more flowering shrubs.