[aldente]

This Roman street in Andalucia is about 2000 years old. We will likewise leave traces!

[Doly]

Romans used stone for their roads. Stone lasts much longer.

[shakespear1]

Mother Nature knows how to clean-up after us. She will send the broom (tornaido), vacuum cleaner ( hurricane ) and the hose Severe Rain Storms and all will be just like before.

But the trouble makers will be gone.

[MD]

The build standards for the main roads of Rome far exceeded US standards. It is all in the road base, not the top coat.
Have you notice many miles of interstate require rework after only ten years of service? Have you noticed the base is often only inches deep?

[I_Like_Plants]

Yeah Roman roads were built in layers and layers, they were meant to last a LONG time before needing repair.

At least bike trails can be skinny, and across country it may be like mountain bike trails. In town, using stones, it may be possible to keep pretty nice roads together.

[LadyRuby]

It's going to get worse since road building and repairing needs oil:

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/n ... 9688.shtml

High cost of oil forcing state to cut back on resurfacing:

AUGUSTA -- The state may have to cut back the scope of some highway paving projects because of the rising price of oil.

In addition to being the source of the diesel fuel used to move construction materials, power graders and steamrollers, oil also is a key ingredient in asphalt.

[shakespear1]

So we are learning how to conserve Petroleum!!!! See, there is light

[Wildwell]

It always amazes me how companies rave on about replacement fuels for cars yet often the road infrastructure is completely overlooked.

With a reduction in traffic/coupled with riding costs of maintenance at some stage some roads won't be economical to maintain.

BTW, Nissan is now looking for a replacement for steel as it's getting a bit costly for the mass market….

Got my interest anyway..

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/ ... 30,00.html

[aldente]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'Y')eah Roman roads were built in layers and layers, they were meant to last a LONG time before needing repair.

[Barbara]

Roman Empire lasted 1000 years, not 100.

(Barbara the peakoil.com Roman)

[eastbay]

Yes, traces are what will remain.... and they won't be very useful after this happens:

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/special ... /b005.html

And there will be no way to clean up the mess either.

Driving on I-580 near where I live, the cracks and holes in the freeway form and grow very quickly, and the repair just isn't keeping up like it should. I ride a motorcycle and learn which ones to avoid.

But remember, there is a Stupid War to pay for.

EastBay

[shakespear1]

eastbay

That is exactly the point. What could those 300 billion dollars spent have bought us instead of the mess in Iraq/Afganistan?

Super research labs to work on alternate energy and conservation, grants to do this work, scholarships to motivate students to go in these directions instead of programming GAMEBOY or iPod.

[Wildwell]

General history of tarmac construction:

- Started 1824 Paris
- Became more widespread around 1875 onwards

Modern tarred roads were the result of the work of two Scottish engineers, Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam. Telford designed the system of raising the foundation of the road in the center to act as a drain for water. Thomas Telford (born 1757) improved the method of building roads with broken stones by analyzing stone thickness, road traffic, road alignment and gradient slopes. Eventually his design became the norm for all roads everywhere. John Loudon McAdam (born 1756) designed roads using broken stones laid in symmetrical, tight patterns and covered with small stones to create a hard surface. McAdam's design, called "macadam roads," provided the greatest advancement in road construction

First motorway in Britain was the Preston bypass opened in 1958. It claimed it's first casualty 4 hours later and broke up under the weight of the traffic coupled with freeze/thaw less than one month later and had to be closed again.

[emersonbiggins]

I've just returned from an awards ceremony of a regional corridor organization, specifically a multi-modal transportation committee made up largely of DOT employees, highway contractors, civil engineers, real estate developers and a smattering of other professionals. I sat there seething while the organization did a circle-jerk rewarding the 'hard, thankless work' of putting up elevated tollways as fast as possible to 'get out in front of the projected traffic'. Professional after professional, mayor after mayor stepped forth and proudly proclaimed their allegiance to tollway building (with scant mention of high gas prices), and referred to tollway opponents as 'enemies with an agenda.' Seeing as those 'enemies' make up most of Austin, I suppose they meant to say the 'public'. The emcee lauded the public/private partnerships that get tollways out 'quicker' and concluded that without new highways, our economy would become a third-world one in no time.

I guess I'm just posting this to vent. I'm taking a rather fatalistic view towards all this highway building that's going on, when it's clear to me that it will be money wasted when gas stays above 3-4 dollars/gallon. On the bright side, there is a great deal of thought going into commuter rail right now. Hopefully, I'll get an edge in on some of the action, especially concerning urban TODs at the station-nodes.

Soooooo........... What do you think?

[lotrfan55345]

It gives the public an impression that their trafic woes will somehow be solved.

[Ludi]

Why? Because people can make a ton of money building them, that's why.

Well, that was obvious....

But yeah, it stinks on toast.

[emersonbiggins]

I know that most of the griping about tollways here have to do with the fact that tolls were to be implemented on existing roadways using RFID tags embedded on license plates. You simply won't win approval of tolling existing roads from the public. My beef is that we're spending any money at all on suburban elevated freeway decks, assuming that they are going to solve traffic snarls.

Favorite feature of the night: DVD about the history of the Eisenhower Interstate System & Texas' influence on/from it. Circle jerk central!
'So prophetic, so visionary...'

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hy? Because people can make a ton of money building them, that's why.

Well, that was obvious....

But yeah, it stinks on toast.

[rogerhb]

You will need somewhere to park all those cars when you rip up the drives and city streets in the forelorn hope of growing some potatoes.

[seldom_seen]

The auto/highway/road buidling juggernaut is in overshoot right now.

It's as if they've driven off a cliff but their forward momentum is so strong that they haven't started to feel the pull of gravity or notice that there's no ground under their feet anymore.

Once they hit the ground I since that it will be shocking and unexpected.