Hacker News Reader

Comment by dtagames | Hacker News Reader

There's a lot of dangerous infrastructure in America. This is far from the only road that causes accidents and deaths on the regular because it is in inherently unsafe or was designed for different kinds of traffic than it has now.

The fact that this road was built in the previous century makes it part of that second category.

In general, we seem unwilling to invest in American road infrastructure. I'd be willing to bet that potholes, the unexciting normal kind you don't even notice in a car, cause more loss of life and loss of money than any particular dramatic road.

View on HN

US invests lavishly in road infrastructure by any measure. The idea that the US underinvests is contrarian to say the least. If it doesn't seem like the infra is any good that's in large part because of the huge Anglosphere infra cost multiplier and the fact that there is so much existing to maintain.

Assuming here that you don't live in the US.

Anglosphere cost multiplier is an interesting way to put it.

Problem is that the Federal Highway Association only spends for new projects, not routine maintenance (please check me on that though).

Therefore cities who need maintenance done will bundle routine maintenance they can't afford with expansion (lane expansion, streamlining). This lets them access federal dollars they wouldn't otherwise get.

Over decades, this has created a lot of infrastructure that isn't financially responsible as stuff has just gotten built and built and built. The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) always grades the overall US as a "C" or worse for maintenance.

Part of the problem is that building things is sexy, maintaining them is harder and not sexy. Lotta money and focus on new stuff, maintenance is a secondary concern.

I would not say that is not completely true. Your state Department of transportation is probably the biggest spender anmong other state agencies. The healthcare Leviathan is only thing that could be bigger. I think it’s important to keep in mind that the surface transportation network in the United States is massive. We also have roads serving mere handfuls of predominantly agricultural users (still critical to food supply).

Building roads is expensive, and they don’t last forever. A good asphalt surface may be service worthy for 20 years. A ton of asphalt outside of California may cost in the ballpark of $150 to install. A 2 inch lift of asphalt will cover not quite 10 sqyd. So you can see how expensive this gets when we’re talking about thousands of miles.

I think it’s worth considering how policies may destroy much of the demand for roadways. Personally, I could imagine a future wear personal private transportation is basically unlawful or artificially expensive.

not all infrastructure should be maintained. I'd personally prefer rail infrastructure prioritized over car roads.

But maintaining current infrastructure in the meantime while we build better things is good too. Let's just not lose the plot on what needs to happen next.

Maintenance isn't the same discussion as decommissioning or replacement. If you want to talk about rail just say that's what you want to talk about without the setting up the awkward connection.

Which is?

I think what needs to happen now (not next) is fix the roads truckers drive on. I'm not one one of them but everything in America depends on them and we're making them drive unsafe roads.

Go out in an RV, big truck, or trailer and you'll see what these guys deal with on top of diesel prices, some of which is tax for road repair!

If they fix the potholes, imagine the damage to the mechanic economy for no longer needing to replace tires/wheels, fix suspensions, etc. The mechanic lobby is never going to let this happen!!

They do fix potholes. However new ones happen all the time so there are always plenty to find with a little working.

At least where I live potholes are the natural result of freeze-thaws cycles.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com