“The Interstate Highway System wound a key and then released a perpetual motion machine.” — On the Move: Transportation and the American Story
We drove on a $28.7 million work project today. That one and two others within 20 miles. It is a bumpy, rutted and full of stop-and-go traffic. To be fair: they’ve only just begun the repair work. To be thorough: the project will replace one badly failed style of roadway with … the same style of roadway. The difference is that the present construction is 52-foot long sections of concrete. Those sections are eight inches thick and reinforced with steel. The new roadway will use shorter sections of plain concrete that will be 14 inches thick:
That stretch of interstate, which carries more than 115,000 vehicles a day, was built in 1981 with continuous reinforced concrete in an attempt to save money on concrete.
“It didn’t work,” Davis said.
So let’s do it again! The repair work runs under three miles. Do the math yourself, the simple division depresses me. The comments to that story are amusing, at least.
