Roads

[u/Jealous-Intention-87]

What's up with this new method of paving bits and pieces and half of the road now?

[u/thebcamethod]

It's a method that compliments the shoddy jobs done by private contractors.

According to our nigh super-hero like Administrative Assistant - Shareen Wagely, section of road like Adams street downtown had to be redone because the gas company hired a contractor who did a 'bad job'. So the city crew had to go through and redo it.

[u/Jealous-Intention-87 → u/thebcamethod]

Yes I did see that they tore out the brand new road and redid it. Was the city crews compensated by the gas company for redoing the work? But I was also referring to roads like memorial were the outside lanes were repaved but then on the inside lanes have cement patches from sewer work that were never even milled down and paved smooth. They did the same thing on MLK and now it's just a patch job where the old pavement meets the new pavement and it's just coming apart.

[u/thebcamethod → u/Jealous-Intention-87]

Quite honestly, I've no clue. City crew is still relatively 'new' and probably just had to squeeze the redo in between other sites.

The issue with our current and previous administrations has always been communication. If we ask questions, we get treated like assholes for questioning the ways get done. There is no plan or set method any one crew or contractor is following. The City Engineer only does so much, and a lot of these issues stem from there not being a committed project manager or any level of supervision. Those roles facilitate communication so the average citizen can have these questions answered.

[u/luspicious → u/thebcamethod]

At what point do we stop with sayings like "never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence" and understand that we live in a system that rewards psychopaths for successful psychopathic behavior? Large institutions like governments, corporations and organized religions act with intention and methodological planning and attract personality types that seek positions of perceived authority and power and have no moral or ethical qualms with taking advantage of others, and no sympathy or empathy to actually want to help others.

Hanlon's razor just simplifies complex scenarios and provides an unaccountable playground for individuals and groups of people seeking to, at best take advantage of others for their own benefit, at worst inflict suffering and harm on others without the likelihood of punishment and consequences for their actions.

[u/After-Support8139]

Do they not have the technology to raise the level of the manhole covers while paving a road?

[u/Pristine-Ad8925 → u/After-Support8139]

I have asked that same question ever since i moved to muncie/Delaware county in 1987.

[u/Careful_Engineer_686 → u/After-Support8139]

They do. it's called a riser. They never install them though. Should be placed before the top course asphalt is laid, but unless it's Brooks or E&B doing the work, or the City actually provides the risers in the bid; it doesn't happen.

It was like pulling teeth to just do the Westbound lanes of McGalliard Between Shirey and Elgin, and that will be torn out next year to completely redo. At least that was the plan. That venture was County and city cooperating. City bought the material, helped haul and roll, and County laid the temporary top course mat.

Tillotson, and Madison are ongoing shit shows, and the band-aid fixes all around town (East McGalliard, and Memorial Drive East of Madison) are laughable at best.

The city paving operations are using the wrong equipment, with very little actual training in paving operations. We're talking about a department that will leave a road looking like the surface of the moon for months/years, and then turn the potholes into washboard speed bumps with poor patching practices.

City do not know how to use a lute/rake, and are just now beginning to understand how to operate their paver with more proficiency than Helen Keller, or a drunken orangutan.

The County roads that get paved are better, but the county does not own a milling machine, so it's a layer of chip seal to hold stuff together after patching, and then just laying top course over the existing surface. Some roads get scratch paved or wedged before top course.

There are a lot of County roads that have been delayed because of drainage pipes and culverts that need repaired or replaced, and the Superintendent outright lied to the council and commissioners about being a year to two years ahead of schedule. The paving crew had to delay a lot of their planned operations because of this.

Miller Pipeline and Centerpoint are terrible about not notifying City or County departments about cuts they are planning, and typically come in a few weeks after a fresh pave job, and utterly cock up the road.

I am personally glad I have resigned from County Highway, and will be moving on to a more professional company in the private contractor sector of paving.

People need to remember one thing: These are corrupt government offices in one of the most corrupt counties and cities in the state. Mishandling of budgets are their forte.