Comments on: North Highway 99 Was Just Paved. Now It’s Falling Apart. Why?

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 04:43:04 +0000

@Sr. Roadway Inspector —Agree with you on the 90% not knowing. I am not familiar with your term “ripped asphalt was placed too thin”. By this do you mean a layer of course mixture base, below the finer top layer? I am still thinking a poor base was the cause. It is my understanding that the road was widened only on this side (the problem side), & the outer bad problem part had never been surfaced previously until now. I assumed the sinking to be from a poor base structure (too much sand?), that may have been only sand, with no other support material, before paving. Otherwise, it seems that the rest of the roadway would also have been affected by the asphalt being too thick, as you state.

By: Sr. Roadway Inspector

Sr. Roadway Inspector — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 20:17:41 +0000

90% of you morons commenting on here have no freaking idea what your talking about, too much time on your hands and need to learn more about roadway building before you start teaching it. The county not only subs out the work but also the inspection on the work. These programs should have been caught before they happened so that falls back on the contractor. There is a warranty on this work and it will be repaired by this contractor at their cost. “Jimmy” the under packing was packed correctly ? Wth have you been smoking ? Diesel fuel does break down asphalt but they dont use it in dump trucks, they use a release agent. All of the asphalt contractors in our area use FDOT and County approved mix designs and know how to pave. Yes so.e are better than others but they do know what they are doing regardless of low bidder. The asphalt that is rutting was placed too thick and the ripped asphalt was placed too thin. The inspector and the QC should have caught that. Last thing from me, TRUMP 2020 !!!!

By: Robert Fields Sr.

Robert Fields Sr. — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 20:20:38 +0000

Earthquake fault line or sewer line???

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 05:24:59 +0000

@Well on Oct.—The road is not sinking? Are we looking at the same first two photos? Looks to me to be at least a four inch or more drop-off (especially in the second photo from the top) that could substitute as a big drainage ditch.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 05:16:09 +0000

@Well on Oct.—I believe you can plainly tell where the edge of the original road ended, & where there was an attempt to pave over what was previously the shoulder. The other side is not affected as it was part of the original road. In an attempt to widen the road, it was done on only one side, which obviously does not have a good base structure, & is presently probably only sand. It may have to be dug out to a depth of a foot or two, & filled with maybe gravel or crushed stone, or whatever would constitute a solid base to support the blacktop, a relatively soft material. I don’t believe either, there is a drainage problem there, as if there was, in theory it would have affected both sides, & not the consistent & narrow very long distance shown. Of course it looks like it is “sliding”. The weight of vehicles (& sinking base) has moved it in the path of least resistance. Like stepping in mud with your shoe, the mud squishes outward in many directions depending on the shape of your shoe, the weight applied, & what is next to it. I go with my brothers opinion, as he has about 40 years experience in that business of dealing with blacktop, & his company has done may critical specification major airport runways. I trust his professional opinion after further cause explanation from him earlier today.

By: Well

Well — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 02:49:59 +0000

Good investigative work there Charlie.
One slight flaw though is that the road is not sinking, as it looks in the pictures. The top layer of asphalt is sliding, big difference.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 19:23:36 +0000

I sent this story to my brother in NY, who is an engineer for a company that does a lot of concrete & blacktop work. His professional opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the quality of the blacktop. Since the sinking problem is only on one side, it would appear to him that the road was widened on that damaged side, with no support base underneath, with what being there was most likely only a sand base that may not even support even a thin layer if had been concrete. The contractor however, should have probably questioned that fact before putting down the blacktop, which will not hold up without a strong base underneath. Blacktop absolutely needs a strong supporting base underneath.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 17:01:49 +0000

Civil Engr thoughts: Could be site prep as noted. Many like occurrences are drainage and soil saturation issues. Look at the large cotton field and shoulder vegetation. I would immediately investigate drainage.

Instead of lawsuits, we would work out a repair solution utilizing both contractor and county/city/state assets. It kept cost down for all parties.

By: ELW

ELW — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 11:05:43 +0000

Margielu, Jimmy and Que Pasa and several others have hit the nail on the head. Inadequate supervision, engineering and probably workers that don’t have the experience to lay road beds. Could be any number of excuses. It really shouldn’t have happened with experienced road builders.

By: Bartender

Bartender — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 10:46:33 +0000

I live her an it is alot better than it was so I’m not complaining.fix it right an go on.no matter who did it could have look the same.usually roads inc gets everything but they got all the other jobs in the county.oh well fix the road right for the buses before an accident happens.it does throw your tire to the side an all this rain doesnt help.