American Society of Civil Engineers lobbies for fuel tax increase

[r3gulator3]

What in the hell are increased fuel taxes going to do exactly? Build more bike trails? Monuments at rest areas?
Maybe use the money where it was intended to go.

There is not a revenue problem. There IS a spending problem!

You hit the nail on the mother fucking head there buddy. But there’s a certain way of thinking in the US that thinks we need to let the governement run everything and have all our hard earned money. The socialist/communist agenda is very big down here and it’s no bueno.

 

[Rigjockey]

You hit the nail on the mother ****ing head there buddy. But there’s a certain way of thinking in the US that thinks we need to let the governement run everything and have all our hard earned money. The socialist/communist agenda is very big down here and it’s no bueno.

Brother man, There is the same thinking up here too. Government got their hands in our pocket digging deeper and deeper.

Our PM has a globalist agenda.

 

[Mike]

There's a revenue problem alright. The last time the US federal gas tax was raised was in the 1990s. With nearly 30 years of inflation eating into it, that money can't buy nearly what it used to, even with bike trails taken out of it. So we get thin veneers of asphalt covering up broken concrete, instead of replacing the concrete roadway. I've had a disgusted highway engineer tell me that they may as well be throwing that money away when they just patch up a highway in that manner.

Let’s also not overlook that they have 5 times as many people out there doing the work.

We need more money to fix the problem, but we just as importantly need to spend the money where it was supposed to be spent, and spend it wisely.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Brother man, There is the same thinking up here too. Government got their hands in our pocket digging deeper and deeper.

Our PM has a globalist agenda.

I was at a customer talking to a Canadian flatbedder and his complaints were EXACTLY the same as ours.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Let’s also not overlook that they have 5 times as many people out there doing the work.

We need more money to fix the problem, but we just as importantly need to spend the money where it was supposed to be spent, and spend it wisely.

We also need to stop this lowest bidder nonsense and make the contractors guarantee their work.

We've got some freshly paved sections that aren't any smoother than the road they replaced. And they aren't holding up any better. In fact they're worse. Some roads that went 30 years have chunks missing after 6 months.

BTW to @ironpony's point about concrete. It doesn't last. It's too brittle and it's noisy as hell. What we need is a double layered approach of concrete as a base for solidity and blacktop over it for comfort. But time needs to be taken to do it right, as much as we hate the closures.

Oh and the new WV sucks. I'm pretty sure they consider the new lanes they opened up recently to be "done" although I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

[ironpony]

Very Democrat way to look at it. He should be more disgusted at the anal rape they receive on rates to “fix a road” or that senators leach the money off to other ****.

So a construction firm is supposed to bid these projects below actual costs in your view, eh? Better keep your day job dude.

 

[r3gulator3]

So a construction firm is supposed to bid these projects below actual costs in your view, eh? Better keep your day job dude.

You’re fucking high and trying to start shit at this point. Never said those words. But you know god damned good and well a toilet seat don’t cost $400 and a yard of concrete ain’t 5k

 

[ironpony]

Let’s also not overlook that they have 5 times as many people out there doing the work.

We need more money to fix the problem, but we just as importantly need to spend the money where it was supposed to be spent, and spend it wisely.

That was my point @Mike. Take two different states, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Indiana is notoriously cheap when it comes to roads. They sold the tollway off to a foreign outfit, blew the money off on Bullshit, and barely do anything to take care of their roads. That huge project to fix I70 through Indianapolis is already falling apart, and every couple of years they put a little asphalt on top of the mess the call they other interstates, that is just the basis for the next set of craters after the following winter.

Wisconsin on the other hand is totally starting over on 90/94. Yeah, that stretch from Illinois to Madison is a pain right now, but they're going right down to the dirt, and laying a new concrete substructure. Ill bet that outlasts anything they build in Indiana.

As for too many people? What's worse? A few extra guys standing around, but the extra labor helps the project get done on time, or not enough labor present, causing the project to be finished late? They attach pretty big late penalties to highway projects now, so its probably cheaper to pay the extra guys.

 

[r3gulator3]

That was my point @Mike. Take two different states, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Indiana is notoriously cheap when it comes to roads. They sold the tollway off to a foreign outfit, blew the money off on Bullshit, and barely do anything to take care of their roads. That huge project to fix I70 through Indianapolis is already falling apart, and every couple of years they put a little asphalt on top of the mess the call they other interstates, that is just the basis for the next set of craters after the following winter.

Wisconsin on the other hand is totally starting over on 90/94. Yeah, that stretch from Illinois to Madison is a pain right now, but they're going right down to the dirt, and laying a new concrete substructure. Ill bet that outlasts anything they build in Indiana.

As for too many people? What's worse? A few extra guys standing around, but the extra labor helps the project get done on time, or not enough labor present, causing the project to be finished late? They attach pretty big late penalties to highway projects now, so its probably cheaper to pay the extra guys.

It would be even cheaper to pay day labor when needed and not having shovel hold guys, and hole watcher guys and sitting on concrete barrier guys.

While I agree that Indiana sucks. And that fucked up stretch of 90/94 goes all the way to Portage but there isn’t a need for every highway to be stripped to the dirt. How is it that southern states can strip a few inches and replace a few inches of black top Bi-annually and the road is good to go? Even look at Indianapolis because they do the same thing there and are doing the same thing there. Indianapolis is the only place in Indiana with decent interstate.

I don’t feel we should give them another dime until they can prove they are appropriately using the funds they received. Until then they can go fly a kite. Construction outfits like Kewitt, PCL and KBR have been stealing money long enough along side the state politicians. Who in Indiana’s case funneled all of the toll road money to fund other shit, sold the toll road and repeated.

 

[ironpony]

How is it that southern states can strip a few inches and replace a few inches of black top Bi-annually and the road is good to go?

How much real winter does the southeast see? Y'all even know what tire chains are?

I don’t feel we should give them another dime until they can prove they are appropriately using the funds they received

Meanwhile, the roads turn to shit. I can't afford to run freight on goat trails. Investing thousand of dollars in truck repairs because you feel that hitting craters on an interstate is a good way to go to teach our representatives a lesson doesn't hack it.

Who in Indiana’s case funneled all of the toll road money to fund other ****, sold the toll road and repeated.

That would be the governor and state legislature... busy doing government business as you prescribe. Cheap as hell road funding, and frittering away those dollars made on the tollway deal on tax rebates.

 

[r3gulator3]

How much real winter does the southeast see? Y'all even know what tire chains are?

First off I’m not from the south. But North Carolina and the Virginia’s see plenty of winter. I know what tire chains are but I’m smart enough to shut down when the road is bad enough to require them. I also ran studded tires in the winter on my cars growing up.

teach our representatives a lesson doesn't hack it.

They don’t learn any lessons all they know is greed. Your best hope is to vote them out and make them realize they fucked up.

That would be the governor and state legislature... busy doing government business as you prescribe. Cheap as hell road funding, and frittering away those dollars made on the tollway deal on tax rebates.

Once again let’s just fork over more money for them to steal? Because no matter how much we give them. The funds are not going to be used for road repair. Another example is Omaha Nebraska with their “entertainment tax” you go out to eat or see a movie they charge you 2.5% on top of 7% sales tax. That 2.5% is supposed to be used to maintain Omaha city streets. I have yet to see a repaired road in Omaha that wasn’t just puss poor asphalt patch. More money, not more work. It’s a disease and you’re happy with it. Good for you.

 

[ironpony]

I have yet to see a repaired road in Omaha that wasn’t just puss poor asphalt patch.

Yet in the southeast that's "good enough." Can't have it both ways dude.

BTW, let me know the next time Charleston, Raleigh or Richmond spend any time at -10 F. You guys call out the National Guard to come save y'all when it hits 28° for a night or two.

Winter north of I70 takes a tremendous toll on the roads. When you just "lay a little blacktop" on it, you get the crap that's Indiana. You get what you pay for, and maybe y'all ought to kick those larcenous bums out of the statehouse if you want better government.

 

[r3gulator3]

You guys

Apparently you are semi illiterate. I don’t know how many times I have to say the words. Let me make them more clear.

I AM NOT FROM THE MOTHER FUCKING SOUTH!!!

I hope I was clear this time.

 

[r3gulator3]

You get what you pay for, and maybe y'all ought to kick those larcenous bums out of the statehouse if you want better government.

I can’t cuz morons like you keep electing them. And no I don’t mean you as a Democrat. Both sides of the fence keep electing in the same has beens and career hacks. And the new meat that comes in is forced to pick a side so the corporate machine can still pull their strings. There is no fixing it without completely tearing it down and starting over. An independent candidate, who may have the actual interest of the American people in mind can never be elected to any federal house seat, any federal senate seat or the presidency.

 

[ironpony]

Apparently you are semi illiterate. I don’t know how many times I have to say the words. Let me make them more clear.

I AM NOT FROM THE MOTHER ****ING SOUTH!!!

I hope I was clear this time.

Yeah ya are... transplanted perhaps, but "Southern" is catchin'. Y'all ain't been a Yankee in awhile.

 

[r3gulator3]

Yeah ya are... transplanted perhaps, but "Southern" is catchin'. Y'all ain't been a Yankee in awhile.

I don’t live in the south! I live in Council Bluffs, Iowa which last time I checked was North if I-70. Also, was a Union state. My mom is from upstate New York. I couldn’t be any more “Yankee”

 

[r3gulator3]

@ironpony also, you’re an Air Sick Highlander. Ain’t enough oxygen in Colorado for your brain to work right.

 

[r3gulator3]

@ironpony I annunciate my words. Have education and speak in full sentences.

 

[r3gulator3]

@ironpony are you annoyed yet?

 

[ironpony]