Germany roads

[Tanfodude]

Drove >600mi total in Berlin, Munich, and part of Austria. in country roads, city roads, Autobahn. Not a single pothole. Yet here in US, we can't afford to fix it. And we're the greatest country in the world?

 

[femurphy77]

Drove >600mi total in Berlin, Munich, and part of Austria. in country roads, city roads, Autobahn. Not a single pothole. Yet here in US, we can't afford to fix it. And we're the greatest country in the world?

Look to your leadership and the expectations of those that elected them.

 

[phylodog]

Drove >600mi total in Berlin, Munich, and part of Austria. in country roads, city roads, Autobahn. Not a single pothole. Yet here in US, we can't afford to fix it. And we're the greatest country in the world?

I heard Germans don't put pockets on their pants. Prevents the politicians from stuffing them for their friends and political donors like they do here. You aren't building a highway in the United States without greasing some wheels, heavily.

 

[firecadet613]

And we're the greatest country in the world?

It's sad to say, but we're not. We're mid pack in most of our worldwide rankings. Don't look at education - the dumbing down of America has worked.

Our politicians have been bought and paid for and do not put America First...and it shows...

 

[Methane Herder]

Two things that were on my bucket list:
Fly the Concord.
Hammer down the Autobahn in the fastest rental car I could afford.
One of these is no longer feasible.
Still going to work on the other.

MH

 

[Mgderf]

Germany's Autoban is built with concrete that is 24" thick.
America's roads are lucky to get 12".

 

[johntheplinker]

Back in the early 80's when I was in Germany we used a section of abandoned autobahn as a training area. Had no maintenance since 1945 and was still smoother than most freshly repaved roads here.

 

[LEaSH]

Investment, work ethic, accountability, and you could go on and on about quality of materials and design and engineering, etc.

What would it take to do it here? Nobody wants to do it the way they do it over there.

 

[firecadet613]

I just remembered this clip. It sums up my earlier post pretty well...

 

[Hatin Since 87]

lucky to get 12".

 

[Cavman]

If our roads where like Germany how many contracting companies that make a living off the govt doing the road would be out of work and how many politicians and bureaucrats be out of a extra money?

 

[wtburnette]

If our roads where like Germany how many contracting companies that make a living off the govt doing the road would be out of work and how many politicians and bureaucrats be out of a extra money?

Ding ding, we have a winner.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Launched and recovered A-10s on the autobahn in 1984.

Deployed to Germany again in 1999. Did a lot more driving on that trip. All the roads were smooth, perfect radius turns and flawless pavement. When I arrived back in Indiana, my wife picked me up at Grissom. After three months of German roads, I got car sick on the way home. That was when I realized how crappy our roads are.

 

[bgcatty]

Too bad the Indiana DOT can’t even begin to match the roads in Germany. They are too busy building new roads (sometimes seemingly to “nowhere”) rather than properly fixing and maintains the existing roads in Indiana that are riddled with pot holes, cracked concrete, busted expansion joints, etc., etc and so on and so forth! So much for being the “crossroads of America”!

 

[manifest destiny]

So, do we think the roads in Germany are better than U.S. because of design, or could it be maintenance after the build, or could it be climate (freeze/thaw) related?

 

[Ingomike]

Too bad the Indiana DOT can’t even begin to match the roads in Germany. They are too busy building new roads (sometimes seemingly to “nowhere”) rather than properly fixing and maintains the existing roads in Indiana that are riddled with pot holes, cracked concrete, busted expansion joints, etc., etc and so on and so forth! So much for being the “crossroads of America”!

Other than 69 what other new roads is INDOT building?

Not defending INDOT but a lot of what you describe is because Indiana is on the winter fault line. Down in KY they freeze a few times a season, Most of Michigan freezes for the season. Indiana freezes and thaws almost daily throughout the winter, very destructive.

The roads maintained by INDOT I use I have few complaints the roads I complain about are the over $6 BILLION of neglect in Indy. Many other cities are just as bad…

 

[johntheplinker]

Too bad the Indiana DOT can’t even begin to match the roads in Germany. They are too busy building new roads (sometimes seemingly to “nowhere”) rather than properly fixing and maintains the existing roads in Indiana that are riddled with pot holes, cracked concrete, busted expansion joints, etc., etc and so on and so forth! So much for being the “crossroads of America”!

A big part of it is because they weren't built correctly in the first place. Insufficient drainage under the roadbed and too thin of a base layer are the biggest faults. Can't blame the builders for that, they build them the way the gov't wants. If the gov't paid to build them right, the taxpayers would have a **** fit at the cost.
Look at I69 north of I64. Cut some serious corners on initial construction and its already falling apart less than 10 years later. But it got done cheaper and faster!

 

[johntheplinker]

Other than 69 what other new roads is INDOT building?

Not defending INDOT but a lot of what you describe is because Indiana is on the winter fault line. Down in KY they freeze a few times a season, Most of Michigan freezes for the season. Indiana freezes and thaws almost daily throughout the winter, very destructive.

The roads maintained by INDOT I use I have few complaints the roads I complain about are the over $6 BILLION of neglect in Indy. Many other cities are just as bad…

The area of Germany I was in (far nothern Bavaria) the climate wasn't too much different than Indiana. Lots of freeze/thaw cycles every winter. Compound that with all the wear and tear was inflicted by heavy armor, it is amazing how well that road held up.

 

[Methane Herder]

Counting on 12" of concrete on I 69 north of Evansville would be engineering equivalent of considering "Rainbows and Unicorns " as a mathematical constant.

Too bad the Indiana DOT can’t even begin to match the roads in Germany. They are too busy building new roads (sometimes seemingly to “nowhere”) rather than properly fixing and maintains the existing roads in Indiana that are riddled with pot holes, cracked concrete, busted expansion joints, etc., etc and so on and so forth! So much for being the “crossroads of America”!

While going to night school, I drove a delivery for a industrial supply company.
Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.
First place, Illinois. Second place (by not much), Kentucky.
Indiana, well I guess you have to have a go to for destructivly testing MBT suspension systems.

MH

 

[Ingomike]

The area of Germany I was in (far nothern Bavaria) the climate wasn't too much different than Indiana. Lots of freeze/thaw cycles every winter. Compound that with all the wear and tear was inflicted by heavy armor, it is amazing how well that road held up.

Not my area of expertise but Indianapolis is the 40th parallel and Bavaria is the 48th and a googling shows it there is 69 miles per parallel. The 48th parallel is up near the UP of Michigan, definitely not the constant freeze thaw Indy gets each winter…