Monday, August 30, 2010

Corrugation

You know those bumps that develop in the asphalt at intersections? I think they're the reason a lot of heavily-trafficked intersections are made with cement instead so the road surface lasts longer.

This brand new asphalt on the turn that leads from Hwy 2 (southbound) onto Country Homes Boulevard is barely a month old and it's already developing corrugation.

Yeah, I know, my kids tell me I'm weird, too.

2 comments:

EJI said...

My dad, who's a county (not Spokane) engineer, once told me that premature road deterioration was often due to the construction contractor skimping on materials — using a tad more of the cheap component in the road mix than they ought to. The only way this was prevented was by vetting contractors and subjecting their work to occasional testing to make sure the ratio was right. So if this is a recurring problem in Spokane, it sounds to me like a case of either unintentionally poor oversight or deliberately poor oversight.

Hank Greer said...

EJI,

I can't say this is a reoccurring problem since most new road construction includes intersections surfaced with concrete. But it is something I've noticed at numerous older intersections.

I was quite surprised to see it starting so quickly on this new intersection. You're probably on to something with the cheap construction and lacking oversight line of thought.