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When Wurzbach Parkway's new section open, it took over 2 months to get the speed limit raised from 35 mph to the current 60 mph. It takes a while for the law to catch up with the road-building.
The fact that anything in this world moves slower than San Antonio road construction is just pitiful.
Scab level wages bring along with them very slow construction, at a snails pace- of any kind of Heavy and Highway or commercial construction. Why hurry?
The Highways do however last a very long time after completion down here because really extreme sub-freezing overnight temperatures do not occur here which will very literally crumble, or break the surface of roadways due to the expansions and contractions of precipitation.
Into crumbs of concrete. So are created overnight, potholes.
Extremely high daytime temps. however makes asphalt, somewhat pliable.
Semi tractor trailer rigs are also limited to 30,000 lbs of freight here in Texas, thus extending the life of highways even further.
Some industrial states allow Big Rigs to haul 5 times that figure, legally, 150,000 lbs. This also is not a very good thing either.
Illegally overloaded trucks can possibly haul up to 200,000 lbs. over the road, usually by mistake. The fines
for this type of violation are so ruinous it is never done purposely. The truck will be confiscated on the spot
by the authorities for this situation.
TXDOT is rated the top DOT in the entire country.
We don't have very much industry down here, so the state can limit the legal weight of trucks in Texas and thus not overcrowd the Highways with too many trucks and so congest traffic.
Back in the early sixties the State of Texas had more paved roads than the entire U.S.S.R.
The 281 North and Loop 410 interchange was the biggest expansion in TXDOT history at the time. I think it beautiful in comparison to most I have seen. Care to design and finish makes for appearance.
Highway 281 is the longest continuous highway in the U.S.
Slowpoke.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slowpoke_TX
The fact that anything in this world moves slower than San Antonio road construction is just pitiful.
Scab level wages bring along with them very slow construction, at a snails pace- of any kind of Heavy and Highway or commercial construction. Why hurry?
The Highways do however last a very long time after completion down here because really extreme sub-freezing overnight temperatures do not occur here which will very literally crumble, or break the surface of roadways due to the expansions and contractions of precipitation.
Into crumbs of concrete. So are created overnight, potholes.
Extremely high daytime temps. however makes asphalt, somewhat pliable.
Semi tractor trailer rigs are also limited to 30,000 lbs of freight here in Texas, thus extending the life of highways even further.
Some industrial states allow Big Rigs to haul 5 times that figure, legally, 150,000 lbs. This also is not a very good thing either.
Illegally overloaded trucks can possibly haul up to 200,000 lbs. over the road, usually by mistake. The fines
for this type of violation are so ruinous it is never done purposely. The truck will be confiscated on the spot
by the authorities for this situation.
TXDOT is rated the top DOT in the entire country.
We don't have very much industry down here, so the state can limit the legal weight of trucks in Texas and thus not overcrowd the Highways with too many trucks and so congest traffic.
Back in the early sixties the State of Texas had more paved roads than the entire U.S.S.R.
The 281 North and Loop 410 interchange was the biggest expansion in TXDOT history at the time. I think it beautiful in comparison to most I have seen. Care to design and finish makes for appearance.
Highway 281 is the longest continuous highway in the U.S.
Slowpoke.
Where did you get this information from?
A quick Google search says that 80,000 lbs. is the weight limit for trucks. 30k freight limit means the truck and trailer weighs 50k lbs? Doubt it.
Hwy. 20 is the longest continuous highway in the U.S. at 3365 miles long.
Where did you get this information from?
A quick Google search says that 80,000 lbs. is the weight limit for trucks. 30k freight limit means the truck and trailer weighs 50k lbs? Doubt it.
Hwy. 20 is the longest continuous highway in the U.S. at 3365 miles long.
There are a lot of variables involved. It depends on the the number of axles in Texas.
Single axle limit is 20,000 lbs
Double axle limit is 34,000 lbs
Three axle limit is 42,000 lbs
Four axle limit is 50,000 lbs
Regardless of the number of axles...the combined weight of the tractor and trailer can not exceed 80,000 lbs.
Some states are really ridiculous such as California where they dictate the weight distribution in the trailer. Not too much can be in the overhang but I forget the limit now.
Strictly from memory as it serves me, these numbers might very well have changed by now concerning load limits, yes. This is how it is, but things change. I realize that. Minor details, but factual.
Looks as though the limits might have been raised. It has been few years.
This is what happens on streets and roads. Really. I am no trucker for sure but know how these things work.
I don't remember the weights or how much things may have changed and have gotten this information from drivers whom must know if their load is legal to move.
Azure is right , about the number of axles, the more axles here are underneath the trailer the more weight it can legally carry because it distributes the weight over more points and lessens the stress on the highways. Texas has very strict upper limits however, particularly in comparison to more industrialized states. With a State issued permit purchased from the state and carried in the truck excess weight can be hauled legally. For a price. A Joe Dog is usually used for immensely heavy objects, sometimes two of them. One in the front and one at the back
This is a good thing.
Trailers on a Big Rig designed to carry the heavier weights I wrote of earlier and Azure mentioned can have two dozen wheels under them. Judge for yourself, disbelieve, it is fine, but I have observed immensely heavy objects moved many times from manufacturing plants.
Funny thing I know of comes to memory when recalling this stuff- which happened to a man hauling another immensely heavy object, a conventional crane.
As opposed to a hydraulic crane which is of course much smaller. These really huge ones are usually dismantled on site and hauled separately in sections, boom sections, cab,etc., simply because it was so very heavy and too large to be moved in one piece anyway. So the crane was dismantled and loaded onto several trucks.
Well, as the trucker was driving along a State highway and approached a "T" intersection - could see behind him only the cab of this crane in the mirrors because- it covered all he could see in the backup mirrors. It obstructed the view of all else so large was it. He could see nothing else behind him.
An elderly lady passed him on a state highway and cut him off- so to avoid a collision he ran the truck into the roadside ditch and steered onto a farmer's field with the Peterbuilt.
He laughed as he told me the end of this retelling. Thinking he had it made because he could still see the crane cab behind him in the rear view mirrors, he thought he had the situation under control. All was in one piece yet, so he was alright. Truck, trailer and Crane were still all in one piece...
Not so. The low slung trailer had bottomed in crossing the ditch and buried its' nose into the soil of the backslope of the ditch had suddenly stopped and the Crane had snapped the binder chains of course which held it in place upon the trailer to keep it from sliding off in traffic. NO way the heavy chains could have held that much weight
in place and stopped it.
As the huge truck- Peterbuilt plowed through the Farmer's Field; the Crane was keeping up with the truck across the field,---- yes, only on its' tracks directly on the ground minus the trailer, bulldozer style, at a very rapid speed.
He could see the Crane Cab in the rear view mirrors right behind him- just as it had looked before through the rearview mirrors as he steered down the highway so he thought all was in one piece yet.
Only when he stopped the truck and got out did he realize that ---he had left the trailer back at the street.
He was out standing in middle of that field stranded, with the truck and the Crane sitting directly on the ground.
Quote:
Originally Posted by txtea
Where did you get this information from?
A quick Google search says that 80,000 lbs. is the weight limit for trucks. 30k freight limit means the truck and trailer weighs 50k lbs? Doubt it.
Hwy. 20 is the longest continuous highway in the U.S. at 3365 miles long.
It should be noted that Williams Brothers finished the expansion on 1604 between Bandera and Culebra months ahead of schedule. I moved here from the Midwest and I can tell you TXDOT gets things done at hyperspeed compared to the Midwest or the heavily union controlled east/west coast.
I graduated from UTSA in 1981. They were working on 1604 when I was in college. It was not so much a construction project...as a retirement fund.
Btw...I am on 1604 every day, several times a day. I am a landscape designer and am constantly going to peoples homes. I use cruise control everywhere I go. Just a habit I've picked up over the last 20 yrs. I usually put it right on the speed limit...and I am usually one of the slowest people on the road (barring accidents and traffic jams.) When I reach 1604 and Bandera road and put my cruise on 60...you'd think I'd pretty much stopped. Very few people obey the 60 mph limit...and again, I'm the slowest person on the road
Yes, Southern Fried, I try to do the same thing as you, drive at a reasonable speed in traffic. Arrival time will be unnoticeably delayed by going 5 or ten miles less less speed than everyone else. A matter of a few minutes less than all the knotheads rushing around out there.
Easily, I will not cause a hazard by going at such a slow pace that it might impede the traffic flow, I will speed up rather than impede. Accidents can happen behind one during a sudden stop by a rush hour fool.
People are somewhat like Lemmings.
I found that my SUV gets 25% better MPG and, more importantly a reduced speed causes far less wear and tear on the engine and suspension. Especially, in little cars with their high revving engines. It will dramatically decrease their life span.
It can be easily understood if one is on their way to the hospital emergency or were late for an important meeting. I get that, perhaps on their way to a fire?
Instead they are on their way to an accident. I once saw guy in a little car in the rear view mirror tailgating me. After getting around on my right he passed and proceeded to tailgate the traffic ahead of me, all three lanes worth of cars he tried to press forward on the back end of. Three attempts , switching lanes, shifting lanes very quickly back and forth to the right and left tailgating anyone he could. None budged an inch.
Merely trying to move ahead one space. What kind of person was that?
Southern States do not have a "Road construction season" like the northern states do. Climate rarely impedes the construction season here. Winter's rains may impede. Yes.
Northern states have a race against the clock because they all know the snow will soon begin to fly and then it will be too late. It will all be over with for that year. The Ground will begin to freeze as hard as a rock and water will not of course evaporate at such low temperatures making the work impossible. The State Highway inspectors will not stand for this ice and mud type of work because the roadway under construction will surely soon fail if constructed under these climatic conditions. The entire project will be halted.
Anything and everything in sight at this very late stage of the project will be paved rather than leave it open to the climate and moisture all winter. A 24 hour work day in two shifts is common for heavily trafficked highway projects.
No leisurely pace for road builders up there can be exploited. The completion date is a race against time, else the highway will be closed for all winter plus,- the inclement unrelenting all winter bad weather will further set back a completion date for the highway. $$$$$. The later in the year it is, the more urgent becomes the work. " We will work until "We are blown out of the Water" is one way I have seen it put.
The following year.
A disaster after the spring melt , might just be found the following spring hat will cause a lot of extra money to be spent to repair- mother natures revenge for building a road there. Washouts, bad soggy ground, perhaps a collapsed road way or even a newly found seep spring that wasn't there last fall because the water table has risen.
I have never seen roads built faster than Yankees do it. Not even close. Fighting bad ground , the weather....
it is fight and a foot race every inch of the way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernFryd
I graduated from UTSA in 1981. They were working on 1604 when I was in college. It was not so much a construction project...as a retirement fund.
Btw...I am on 1604 every day, several times a day. I am a landscape designer and am constantly going to peoples homes. I use cruise control everywhere I go. Just a habit I've picked up over the last 20 yrs. I usually put it right on the speed limit...and I am usually one of the slowest people on the road (barring accidents and traffic jams.) When I reach 1604 and Bandera road and put my cruise on 60...you'd think I'd pretty much stopped. Very few people obey the 60 mph limit...and again, I'm the slowest person on the road
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,
because he could still see the crane cab behind him in the rear view mirrors, he thought he had the situation under control. All was in one piece yet, so he was alright. Truck, trailer and Crane were still all in one piece...
The entire project will be halted.
