Let's talk about how the roads around here are PISS POOR, and an embarassment.

**rb336** · February-17-14, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

Looks like we're gonna be stuck with this guy for another 4 years, since there isn't a viable candidate out here to dethrone him.

no, it's more like the media adore him

**Cliffy** · February-17-14, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I thought about this thread as I drove out to Long Island yesterday. Some of the potholes were so bad that they brought traffic to a near stop on the LIE.

Funny you mention this. I listen to a radio show out of NYC and people were mentioning how bad the potholes are in NY.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · February-17-14, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

no, it's more like the media adore him

Who cares what the media thinks? They don't control things. The media is part of the problem along with him, not the solution.

**nain rouge** · February-17-14, 09:16 PM

The potholes are a side effect of sprawl. There are simply too many roads to allocate money too. No large cold weather metropolis escapes the potholes of doom you see here. An extra billion would certainly improve conditions, but the constant construction work would probably annoy drivers almost as much.

I drove to my dad's house on 12 Mile in the Warren/Madison Heights area today and it looks like they'll be closing the right lanes for repairs all summer long. Citizens in the area will again enjoy 20 minute drives to I-75 during rush hour, followed by epic traffic jams near I-696 and also 14 Mile.

Go sprawl!

**Cliffy** · February-17-14, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

The potholes are a side effect of sprawl. There are simply too many roads to allocate money too. No large cold weather metropolis escapes the potholes of doom you see here. An extra billion would certainly improve conditions, but the constant construction work would probably annoy drivers almost as much.

I drove to my dad's house on 12 Mile in the Warren/Madison Heights area today and it looks like they'll be closing the right lanes for repairs all summer long. Citizens in the area will again enjoy 20 minute drives to I-75 during rush hour, followed by epic traffic jams near I-696 and also 14 Mile.

Go sprawl!

Did you not read the part of NYC having craters

**ABetterDetroit** · February-17-14, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Did you not read the part of NYC having craters

Uhh... Have you ever driven NYC streets? Shit, they have 50 times as many good side walks as Detroit has good roads. Not even close, its not whether its apples to oranges its more like flying a kite to a trip to mars.

**DetroitPlanner** · February-17-14, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

The potholes are a side effect of sprawl.

You're way out on a limb with this one. Ann Arbor is quickly becoming a very dense non-sprawly City, but its roads are in terrible shape.

**rb336** · February-18-14, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Uhh... Have you ever driven NYC streets? Shit, they have 50 times as many good side walks as Detroit has good roads. Not even close, its not whether its apples to oranges its more like flying a kite to a trip to mars.

Sidewalks are not streets. Manhattan has probably got the best roads in the five buroughs, but a lot of them were as much patch as they were pavement. Get out into Flatlands and many roads are in the process of reverting to dirt

**ABetterDetroit** · February-18-14, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by rb336

Sidewalks are not streets. Manhattan has probably got the best roads in the five buroughs, but a lot of them were as much patch as they were pavement. Get out into Flatlands and many roads are in the process of reverting to dirt

From my experience as a visitor in and around NYC the quality of the roads is considerably better that Michigan and especially Detroit.

None of the visitors that come to visit me professionally or personally here EVER said wow your roads are better than back home. Its more like WTF up with roads here? I have even had several people actually asking what the problem with the road is when we are still within 1 mile of metro after picking them up.

**EL Jimbo** · February-18-14, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

You're way out on a limb with this one. Ann Arbor is quickly becoming a very dense non-sprawly City, but its roads are in terrible shape.

It all feeds in. Sprawl requires people to travel farther distances and requires more roads to support a similarly sized population than greater density would. Ann Arbor itself has density, but the state as a whole suffers from sprawl. That means money that could be spent maintaining streets in Ann Arbor has to be split supporting sprawl in Pittsfield Township or something like that.

**DetroitPlanner** · February-18-14, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by EL Jimbo

It all feeds in. Sprawl requires people to travel farther distances and requires more roads to support a similarly sized population than greater density would. Ann Arbor itself has density, but the state as a whole suffers from sprawl. That means money that could be spent maintaining streets in Ann Arbor has to be split supporting sprawl in Pittsfield Township or something like that.

The majority of road money coming to cities comes directly from the state or through a local millage. Pittsfield is a township and has no control over its roads other than what it can bully the Road Commission to do. Nearly all of the Road Commission's funding comes from the state as well. The point here is that there are some pretty significant funding smokestacks that do not intertwine as you think they might. Want to fix potholes? Increase funding. If not, pay the extra $400 a year to fix your rims, tires, alignments, shocks, struts.....

**EL Jimbo** · February-18-14, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

The majority of road money coming to cities comes directly from the state or through a local millage. Pittsfield is a township and has no control over its roads other than what it can bully the Road Commission to do. Nearly all of the Road Commission's funding comes from the state as well. The point here is that there are some pretty significant funding smokestacks that do not intertwine as you think they might. Want to fix potholes? Increase funding. If not, pay the extra $400 a year to fix your rims, tires, alignments, shocks, struts.....

And you missed my point. Trust me. I'm well aware of how funding is distributed through Act 51. I'm not arguing that under the current situation the only answer is more money. However, one of the long-term reasons we are in this mess as a state is the strain caused by sprawl.

Whether it is roads, sewers, water, or any other utility. The fact that from 1950 onward, Michigan mostly grew out instead of up. It has created a multi-generational issue of focusing on building more infrastructure instead of maintaining and improving what already existed while keeping resources mostly flat.

The thinning out of resources is problem #1 that resulted from sprawl. Just look at your own job. What more could you do as a planner in Detroit with the resources of 1.8 million residents that you can't with only 700k?

**ABetterDetroit** · February-18-14, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

The majority of road money coming to cities comes directly from the state or through a local millage. Pittsfield is a township and has no control over its roads other than what it can bully the Road Commission to do. Nearly all of the Road Commission's funding comes from the state as well. The point here is that there are some pretty significant funding smokestacks that do not intertwine as you think they might. Want to fix potholes? Increase funding. If not, pay the extra $400 a year to fix your rims, tires, alignments, shocks, struts.....

Don't forget AUTO INSURANCE, those guys know that shitty roads cause accidents, put people in hospitals, etc...

**Cliffy** · February-18-14, 10:06 PM

Please. The sprawl people need to remove themselves from this thread. Your wet dream of people living in sardine cans like in Hong Kong is not helping us.

**Hermod** · February-19-14, 05:36 AM

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Please. The sprawl people need to remove themselves from this thread. Your wet dream of people living in sardine cans like in Hong Kong is not helping us.

Cliffy, don't you know that Detroit is a shithole because people want to live somewhere else [[or is it they want to live somewhere else because Detroit is a shithole)?

**rb336** · February-19-14, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

From my experience as a visitor in and around NYC the quality of the roads is considerably better that Michigan and especially Detroit.

None of the visitors that come to visit me professionally or personally here EVER said wow your roads are better than back home. Its more like WTF up with roads here? I have even had several people actually asking what the problem with the road is when we are still within 1 mile of metro after picking them up.

Better than ours, yes. Especially around the major touristy areas. When I lived there, the roads in the East Village, Alphabet City, Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen were utter crap. Manhattan has an advantage over Brooklyn, Queens and Detroit - it is essentially just a big rock outcropping. large parts of B, Q & D are built on swampy land

**Pam** · February-25-14, 07:46 PM

Some people who found a creative use for potholes :

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...2778.html?vp=1

**brizee** · June-12-14, 08:57 PM

Shocker.

What a shitty, broken place to live.

Michissippi should be retired, we're giving that other state a bad name.

Michidishu?

Michigangyang?

Michikandahar?

**ghettopalmetto** · June-13-14, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by brizee

Shocker.

What a shitty, broken place to live.

Michissippi should be retired, we're giving that other state a bad name.

Michidishu?

Michigangyang?

Michikandahar?

Remember, all that suburban "growth" pays for itself. Or so the ostriches on these forums would have you believe.

**Hypestyles** · June-13-14, 12:38 PM

so nothing before summer "break"-- and now, in the fall, can we expect a lot more nothing? I have to get out of here before next winter comes..

**Detroitnerd** · June-13-14, 01:16 PM

"Sorry, kids. Daddy had to buy all his business buddies new powerboats. You kids will have to get paper routes if you want new shoes for the next year."

**canuck** · June-13-14, 06:38 PM

Stop taking potshots at your potholes, Meshuggenas.

**canuck** · June-13-14, 07:42 PM

Stop taking potshots at your potholes, Mesuggenas.

**ABetterDetroit** · June-13-14, 08:32 PM

Maybe a road surface remove is a viable alternative and returning some to "dirt roads" is the best idea going....

**Cliffy** · June-13-14, 10:14 PM

Wow .25 a gallon over 5 years. That is so minuscule yet the right wing lunatics in this state act like the world is going to end. If you travel 12000 miles year and you get 20 mpg, you're talking 600 gallons which equate to $150 a year. Boohoo. They pay $9 gallon in Europe and here we have to deal with the rednecks and their big ass trucks.