Councilor Burney's perceptive blog Thursday on Plainfield's fiscal problems should be a must read. There is no question as he states that the city (we) musty re-evaluate our core services. There is also no question that both the administrative and legislative elements of city government must share the responsibility for the deterioration of the city infrastructure. The onus falls equally on "Old","New", and Regular" Democrats.
It seems less than 15 years ago that Plainfield sold its sewer utility for something around 9 million dollars. Not one penny of that money went to maintain our infrastructure.I am sure that today we would have great difficulty in tracing where that money went. I am also sure that the people did not get value for the use of that money.
One visible evidence of the lack of attention to our infrastructure is the roads. We have to spend millions of dollars to replace bad pavements, rather than having spent thousands of dollars over the years for maintenance. It has not only been lack of proper repairs but also what may have been poor quality control during their construction. We may have also lost dollars by using "approved vendors" rather then "lowest acceptable bidder" in selecting professional services. Certainly having paid a large sum for determine the state of our streets 5 years ago we should not have had to expend large sums in 2008 to reevaluate the roads.
I would recommend pasting this http://epdfiles.engr.wisc.edu/pdf_web_files/tic/manuals/Asphalt-PASER_02.pdf in your navigation bar to understand what is wrong with our pavements, and what must be done. An illustrated point from that illustrated document copied here
Longitudinal cracks
Cracks running in the direction of trafficare longitudinal cracks. Center line or
lane cracks are caused by inadequate bonding during construction or reflect
cracks in underlying pavement. Longitudinal cracks in the wheel path indicate
fatigue failure from heavy vehicle loads. Cracks within one foot of the edge are
caused by insufficient shoulder support,poor drainage, or frost action. Cracks
usually start as hairline or vary narrow and widen and erode with age.
Without crack filling, they can ravel, develop multiple cracks, and become
wide enough to require patching. Filling and sealing cracks will reduce
moisture penetration and prevent further subgrade weakening. Multiple
longitudinal cracks in the wheel path or pavement edge indicate a need
for strengthening with an overlay or reconstruction.
Within the past ten years three major road replacement projects were done. Woodland Ave (which may have been slightly longer ago), South Avenue, and North Avenue. The first two have deteriorated to a level that has resulted in pavement destruction. North Ave has marked longitudinal cracking . This is the street where an engineering error cost the city a large sum because the specifications of concrete storm sewer pipe was wrong.
The streets are only a portion of our financial woes. Bare bones core services are part of the answer. Employees at all levels must consider making salary adjustments. Elected officials may also consider sacrifices. No avenue of governmental fiscal aid should be overlooked. Desperate times require desperate measures. The alternative will be civic bankruptcy.
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The deterioration on South Avenue is most likely due to (1) inadequate site investigation prior to design, resulting in (2) improper design, and (3) insufficient on-site inspection during the work. If you don't determine the condition and composition of the substrate (what's under the visible pavement), you won't properly design the project. This requires digging test holes at various locations to examine the substrate and plan accordingly. A design that calls for "resurfacing" (as was done on South Avenue) simply puts new asphalt over old. Yes, there was milling and removal, but the substrate was not altered. Good asphalt over bad substrate = bad job. A "reconstruction" removes the surface and the deteriorated base and starts over. Given the extent of deterioration on South Avenue, it appears a combination of resurfacing with some reconstruction should have been done. At a minimum, with adequate and proper site inspection during the work, the contractor should have been directed to excavate and rebuild any bad areas as they were exposed. I suspect such was not the case, given that the current deterioration seems to be in the same areas that historically were troubled.
ReplyDeleteMichaelT, I believe that you are correct. South Ave near Drug Fair had to have sunken pavement repaired shortly after the work was finished.Also there must have been high cost overrides due to engineering changes and the installation of the tire traps. The problem at that street is design, but maintenance would have mitigated some of today's potholes. Most of Woodlands problems arose after improper sealing of street openings, but their are horizontal cracks the entire length that should be sealed asap.
ReplyDeleteRegarding South and North Avenues, b oth suffered from engineering errors. Each street cost the city large sums to correct. One problem not answered; were the engineers bonded. I know the contractors were. Did the city recoup for losses suffered from vendors errors?. If not why not?
I was just using these 3 streets as examples of problems hat shoul hav been avoided and/or corrected in our inner structure.
MichaelT is correct in his analysis of the poor condition of South Ave. However I seem to remember numerous test sites along the road befor paving as they were preparing for the infamous "Bump Outs". Anyone having anything to do with this job should hang their head in shame. It doesn't seem to matter who does the paving locally on the roads, they all seem to fail along the seams and this appears to be more prevelant here in Union County than elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteWayne raises a good point. Seam failures are prevalent throughout this area. Asphalt machines cannot lay asphalt in one pass from curb to curb. Roadways are simply too wide. As a result, the material is laid in passes.
ReplyDeleteOne cause of seam failure is laying asphalt in one long pass, and then returning to make the second pass after the first has cooled. This method saves time (money) for the contractor because the setup and staging is easier.
The result, however, is often a poor joint at the seam between the passes. The cooler asphalt doesn't properly knit together with the hotter material from the new pass.
Proper engineering oversight would assure that the length of each pass is limited, strengthening the bond between the passes.
Seam failure occurs on many of the Union County roads. The County bids their paving projects and usually pushes them through to completion in a short time period. The County wants the road to re-open as quickly as possible, so the contractor paves in extremely long passes, with seam failure occurring within a few years.