Potholes

[Honky Tonk]

I'm curious that since asphalt is not "exhausted" into the atmosphere like gasoline, does it cause as much damage in creating greenhouse gases?

Probably not as much as all the plastics, cardboard, chemicals, metals, etc., sitting and festering in landfills, because people don't want to bother recycling items, and our government isn't bothering to create venues for the items to be properly recycled. It's a lot easier, and more profitable, to sell $150k automobiles to the gullible populace under the guise that something is being done "for the environment".

[sirrealone]

Blacktop eliminates some of the freeway noise [[as do walls around the freeway)... it is interesting to read that it extends the life of freeways, and is less disruptive on maintenance closures compared to just laying new cement. I remember the big closures of I-696 just a few years ago due to just do new cement.

I've seen a few projects recently where they've started off with asphalt rather than concrete. The M-59 rebuilds through Macomb county, a mile stretch of Livernois in Rochester Hills, and a few mile stretch on I-75 a bit north of the Zilwaukee Bridge have all seen them tear out concrete and replace with asphalt. I know it's a lot less of an initial cost, and they claim that the depth which they put it down will make it last, but I think that will also require a preservation layer to be laid down every 3-5 years. Hopefully they stay on top of these and other stretches so that they aren't falling apart in 10-15 years.

[sirrealone]

I remember back about 15 years ago [[or so) when I-275 was rebuilt and all the folks in Livonia were complaining about the noise they had after the relaying of just concrete.

Yeah, if I'm thinking of the same stretch [[between M-14 and M-5), they used some experimental form of concrete that was designed to repel water. Unfortunately it somehow was noisier than regular concrete. I remember they had to diamond grate it down to reduce noise levels.

And, it turned out it wasn't just water it repelled. It pretty much repelled everything. So, the crack sealant they put in the joints just pulled itself loose within months, and to add insult to injury, they could never blacktop it because the asphalt wouldn't have bonded to the concrete and would've just started chunking off had they tried. The stretch barely lasted 15 years before they had to tear the whole thing out and re-do it.

Only in Michigan.

[Jimaz]

I'm curious that since asphalt is not "exhausted" into the atmosphere like gasoline, does it cause as much damage in creating greenhouse gases?

I doubt it, at least after it's cured. It smells when it's hot but I think it's the least volatile fraction from petroleum distillation {so less outgassing}.

The reason I mentioned it was if, in the future, there were less petroleum refining, there would be less asphalt as a byproduct.

[JBMcB]

Reduce the maximum weight for trucks. Most road damage is from heavy semis wrecking the roads. You can see evidence for this at the UPS warehouse on Whitcomb in Madison Heights. They have to do major repairs to that road regularly, with all the UPS trucks driving back and forth from the freeway. Thirteen mile holds up much longer between repairs, and it has significantly more traffic, but far fewer trucks.

[Richard]

I doubt it, at least after it's cured. It smells when it's hot but I think it's the least volatile fraction from petroleum distillation {so less outgassing}.

The reason I mentioned it was if, in the future, there were less petroleum refining, there would be less asphalt as a byproduct.

And extremely expensive,now is the worst time to be fixing roads cost effective,pretty soon asphalt will become so expensive,scrappers will be stealing chunks of it and selling that.

When the resurface asphalt roads,they mill the first 2” off of the old surface,some of the millings are mixed into on the new material,the rest is sold cheap.

I did my 30’ driveway in 4” of asphalt millings 25 foot wide for less then $200 in materials,after it packs down,it becomes like asphalt.

[Jimaz]

I never knew such a machine existed but it makes sense. Someone has to test new paving materials.

The massive Fatigue Carousel helps keep roads safe

The "accelerated pavement testing facility" in Nantes can simulate decades of road traffic in a few months. Here's how.

• The pavement fatigue carousel

[Funaho]

I never knew such a machine existed but it makes sense. Someone has to test new paving materials.

The massive Fatigue Carousel helps keep roads safe

I just watched that video this morning, cool stuff. Tom Scott always finds such interesting things like that.

Now what we really need is a Michigan Winter Simulator.

[Richard]

Hmm. I suppose if we ever kick our fossil fuel addiction, we'll have to substitute concrete for asphalt.

Yea not so fast there,we just need to go back to dirt roads if we are really serious about saving the planet.

Concrete is made by adding sand and gravel to cement, whisking the mixture with water and pouring it into moulds before it dries. Making the cement is the most carbon-intensive part: it involves using fossil fuels to heat a mixture of limestone and clay to more than 1,400  °C in a kiln. Also, when limestone [[calcium carbonate) is heated with clays, roughly 600 kilograms of carbon dioxide is released for every tonne of cement produced [[see go.nature.com/3exhg82).


And when we do go back to dirt roads,all of you suckers are going to be driving your dainty little EVs that will rattle apart within miles,I will be zipping right in by in my vintage truck that was made back in the day when roads were roads and not sone wussy planet killing ribbons of concrete and asphalt.

Think of the billions we could save in road replacement alone,but I do not think anybody is really serious about actually saving the planet,because they will want to keep the paved roads.

You guys need to tell your little girl it is not cow farts that are releasing insane amounts of CO in the atmosphere it’s the roads she drives on and the buildings she lives in or enters.

I think we should declare a national emergency right alongside the National emergency climate change agenda,unless of course nobody is really serious about saving the planet.

This is the test,if they do not start ripping all the roads up,then we know the climate change advocates are fake.

Sorry people,if you really believe in climate change and saving the planet,then you will start opposing any kind of road repairs or construction,if you do not then you are stealing the future of children,do you really want to be labeled as a childhood stealer ?

I think climate change is so serious we should have a climate change police and arrest anybody that uses or has any one of the following 75 items that everybody uses in their daily lives.

Unless of course nobody is really that serious about it.

https://allusesof.com/energy/75-uses...in-daily-life/

Cant have asphalt because it is petro based,can’t have concrete because it kills the planet during the production of it,dirt it is.

and everybody that wants to save the planet needs to be going necked because your clothes on your back are made from petro products.

That will be another indicator that people are not really serious about saving the planet,because they are wearing clothes.

Clothing
Unless you make it a point to wear only 100% wool or cotton, you most likely have a dresser full of polyester clothing. Polyester is a synthetic petroleum fiber incorporated into 60% of clothing worldwide. Unlike cotton products, polyester is not biodegradable.

All the people protesting at save the planet rally’s,notice they are all wearing clothes,how hypocritical.

What politician runs on a climate change platform,while also advocating for fixing the roads,when we know the roads are killing the planet?

Follow the science.

[Gistok]

Bravo Richard!! That has to be the most Olympic sized Slippery Slope fallacy I have ever seen... One action leads to the next, and then the next, and next, and it's just a never ending downward spiral... and each one has to happen, or else everyone else just looks foolish... uh... okay...

[Richard]

Bravo Richard!! That has to be the most Olympic sized Slippery Slope fallacy I have ever seen... One action leads to the next, and then the next, and next, and it's just a never ending downward spiral... and each one has to happen, or else everyone else just looks foolish... uh... okay...

I can tell you could care less about stealing childhoods or saving the planet,because you used a computer to post that.

O sorry I forgot,you are only interested in saving the planet as long as it does not inconvenience you.

When you send me a letter in the mail saying you gave up your electronic devices,then I will take pride in knowing somebody is actually really serious about saving the planet.

You said there is no inbetween,either you are serious about climate change or you are just another right wing orange guy supporting nazi climate change denier.

Nice to see you out of the closet and welcome to the dark side

If you are that ready where you have no qualms about pulling the rug out from under fossil fuel while bankrupting 1/2 of the country,while throwing millions into poverty ,then you better stand by your convictions and go all the way,otherwise you are just asking others to support your pet projects which shows it is really not about what you say it is.

You do not get to say,I am good guy and saving the planet while you are picking and choosing what actions to take without actually sacrificing like you are expecting other to do.

Ditch your electronic devices and clothes and hold your head up high when you go to work or shopping tomorrow,because at that time you really will be doing your part to save the planet,there is no slippery slope that can save one from hypocrisy.

Where is the logic in just kinda saving the planet ? Either you are or you are not.

Do not forget when you brush your teeth tomorrow morning,tooth paste is made with petro products,so with every stroke comes another stolen childhood.

You really need to sit down with the little Swedish girl and repent your climate destroying ways and ask for her forgiveness.

10 years ago Lego committed $150 million to change to plant based blocks,now they changed it to 2030,my guess so they could suck up some free money from the feds in order to do so.

So in 10 years they converted to less then 10 percent of their products from fossil fuel,yay.

They say during the pandemic 80% of the population shopped online,that tells you right there 80% of the population is really not that interested in making a personal sacrifice in order to save the planet.

[Gistok]

Probably not as much as all the plastics, cardboard, chemicals, metals, etc., sitting and festering in landfills, because people don't want to bother recycling items, and our government isn't bothering to create venues for the items to be properly recycled. It's a lot easier, and more profitable, to sell $150k automobiles to the gullible populace under the guise that something is being done "for the environment".

I wonder which is less harmful... landfill or incineration? Sweden recycles 49% of their garbage, and incinerates 50%, with only 1% going to landfills. So if we recycled more, there would be less to get rid of. But that still begs the question is landfill favorable to incineration? Or is it the other way around? Granted our now Detroit incinerator is closed, thus dumping even more trash into landfills. Which is the lesser of 2 evils?

I couldn't stand the smell every time I drove by it, but was closing it the right way to go, or was that just a NIMBY decision?

[Richard]

Keep looking for ways to deal with the horse after it already escaped,glass is 100% recycled as is paper bags used in shopping,we can lesson our foot print by just switching back to those.

It was the soft drink industry that lobbied for plastic,so they did not have to wash the bottles.

But they retained the same earnings after the switch.

You did not see bottles laying around like you see 1/2 full
water bottles laying in the ditch everywhere ,because kids would collect them for the deposit return.

We actually went from a recycling society to a disposable society in everything we purchase including major appliances,so instead of going back to what we know worked,we get to spend billions on things that we know will not work,it’s the cost of feeling good about doing something while actually not accomplishing the main goal.