Terrible roads

[Oldchief]

Hate to complain but roads we’ve traveled in PA, NY state, VT, NH & Maine, in way too many places, are TERRIBLE. I know motor homes rattle a lot but these roads are about to shake our Axis apart. Drawers & cabinet doors are shaken open, contents repeatedly flying everywhere. And, I I’m not flying down them, always run 60 to 64 mph. I know these states have months of freezing temps that do the damage but it doesn’t seem like they do much to repair them. The patched potholes have patches. And, the expansion joints almost jar the fillings out of your teeth. Even the Interstates are bad. Hoping our rig survives. 🤕

[Bob Denman]

Yup: that's the deal up here in the northeast.
But you can always slow down a little bit...

[Ajax1000]

This is what they mean when talking about "infrastructure projects".

[JamieGeek]

When we went to NJ back in June I was pleasantly surprised: I-80 from Toledo all the way through OH and PA was pretty smooth (aside from the few construction projects but they were fixing it). It was some of the smoothest interstates we've been on for quite some time.

[The Gritz Carlton]

It may cost a minimal fraction in tire wear but airing down by 8 pounds or so will make a huge difference. Just make sure they are all even and your speeds are 65 and below. Don't run them this way forever but through those horrible zones you know are coming up...like the entire state of Michigan...worst roads in the country.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

It may cost a minimal fraction in tire wear but airing down by 8 pounds or so will make a huge difference. Just make sure they are all even and your speeds are 65 and below. Don't run them this way forever but through those horrible zones you know are coming up...like the entire state of Michigan...worst roads in the country.

LOL! Agreed (MI roads are the worst).

[Ford1]

Remind me to avoid Michigan! We travel I-95 from Florida to Virginia fairly often. It seems that on one trip the roads in North Carolina are the worst, then the next trip they have repaved and South Carolina is the worst, the the next might have been Virginia on 295 so we changed to back to 95, etc. The highways are in constantly in some need of repair, just depends on where they are in their repaving cycles and what kind of winters they had most recently. For example, on our last trip up it was South Carolina that seemed to loosen every screw in the MH! And yes, potholes were everywhere, Joints were deteriorated in some places so badly that they resembled sinkholes. But thank goodness for new pavement in Georgia and North Carolina.........this time.🤪

[The Gritz Carlton]

Yep...Georgia is knocking it out...so is Tennessee, NC and many other states. Seems the infrastructure program is working for the most part.

[halfprice]

I was pretty impressed by the roads on my 6000 mile So Cal to DC Philly trip. We drove mainly the 40 and can't tell you what highways to get to dc philly and back down through wv Kentucky etc. To many and I just can't remember

Only real bad area was on the 10 in New Mexico other than that very were great

Have to say there was tons of work being done. Many roads reduced to one lane but it didn't slow anyone down

Jerry

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

Yep...Georgia is knocking it out...so is Tennessee, NC and many other states. Seems the infrastructure program is working for the most part.

Some State Governments are better run; than others...

[Mitch S]

LOL! Agreed (MI roads are the worst).
Two seasons in MI, winter and road construction!

[axis earl]

Originally Posted by Oldchief

Hate to complain but roads we’ve traveled in PA, NY state, VT, NH & Maine, in way too many places, are TERRIBLE. I know motor homes rattle a lot but these roads are about to shake our Axis apart. Drawers & cabinet doors are shaken open, contents repeatedly flying everywhere. And, I I’m not flying down them, always run 60 to 64 mph. I know these states have months of freezing temps that do the damage but it doesn’t seem like they do much to repair them. The patched potholes have patches. And, the expansion joints almost jar the fillings out of your teeth. Even the Interstates are bad. Hoping our rig survives. 🤕

Chief,
You will want to avoid Interstate 5 in the Magic Mountain area of California (Saugus-Newhall). It bounced our rig so hard that the Norcold refrigerator alarm indicating that the flame was out came on. It did this both northbound and on the southbound trip. The newer construction on Interstate 210 in the Rancho Cucamonga area just north of the Fontana NASCAR track is almost as bad and it is relatively new. I continue to fail to understand how this kind of construction is accepted by the state officials responsible.

[Lt Keefer]

Talking about bad roads, stay away from from I-20, Dallas to Birmingham.

[Yaktop]

The north have an excuse - frost. The other is requiring the lowest cost bidder - to save the taxpayer. Lol.,

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Yaktop

The north have an excuse - frost. The other is requiring the lowest cost bidder - to save the taxpayer. Lol.,

For years I've heard that Michigan has the highest weight limit for trucks of any state as the explanation for Michigan's bad roads (e.g. the roads just crumble under the heavy trucks).

[Bob Denman]

I thought that they used those heavy trucks to tamp down the biggest bumps!

[Oldchief]

Now that we're back from our 4500+ mile FL to Canada road trip, I stand by my original complaint about the condition of our roads here in the US, especially those in the Northeastern states. But, even tho Canada has at least the same and possibly worse winter seasons with months of freezing temps, why are their roads so much better??? Do they use better materials and engineering when building them? Or, do they do better maintenance and upkeep? The roads we traveled throughout New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were great! Not only smooth but no patches on patches and potholes in larger potholes, like those in PA, NY, VT, NH and Maine. There should be a class action law suit for the damage roads in these states must do to motor homes. These states should be ashamed of their highway systems.

[Yaktop]

Volume of trucks and cars is probably the biggest factor. Then the pure amount of roads and the costs associated with maintaining them is another.

As far as Michigan, their gross max is like 160k and can use I believe up to 12 axles. Most places, 80k 6 axles with a special permit just 99 or 105 K for diminishing loads.

Everything is not created equal.

[Popfla]

I-295 in New Jersey gave our new MH quite a workout when we were up there in June. Gave a whole new meaning to the term "shakedown" trip! I'm pretty much convinced that the Army uses that road to teach the troops how to build tank traps.

[Bob Denman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzC0afgGis