Anyone ever notice that every road construction is exactly the same length?

They are all from the first tolerable day of weather in spring untill mid November

Never 1 month or 2 or 1.5 always last exactly the same. Or they are 2 years but always the same start and end date!

It seems like where I live they will get one finished and start another one about a week later.  They always do it in the most high traffic areas too. I guess you gotta have roads though.  I couldn't get my boat to the lake without them. ;D

Where I'm at it takes YEARS.....I mean years to do a road project.  I guess its because everytime I drive by there is 6 people standing in a circle around the one guy actually doing something  ;D

Where I'm at it takes YEARS.....I mean years to do a road project. I guess its because everytime I drive by there is 6 people standing in a circle around the one guy actually doing something ;D

Sounds real familliar.  Must be something with the two Virginia's. ;D

Where I'm at it takes YEARS.....I mean years to do a road project. I guess its because everytime I drive by there is 6 people standing in a circle around the one guy actually doing something ;D

Sounds real familliar. Must be something with the two Virginia's. ;D

you know ive seen this phenomina here in alabama its a small wonder it actually got done  ;D ;D

Yea let's see all the projects currently going on in Northern, Va shall we? First and foremost the worst and craziest project of all, the springfield interchange on I-95. Next we have the widening of 123 and the Occoquan Bridge (almost done, thank god). Then we have Minnieville Road (fairly new project) being widened on both sides. The never ending phase one part of widening Route One by the Dale Blvd, Rippon, and Neabsco Road area all the way down past Quantico. I hate to see what this nightmare is going to look like once everyone sells their land and construction begins. Not to mention the previous pw parkway turn lane construction and the dale blvd turn lane construction at Darbydale a month or two ago.

If you ask me, they take on too many d**n projects at once. NOVA traffic is freakin' horrible.

In my area, when they work on one road they also make it a point to work on what would be your alternate route just to make your commute a bigger challenge.

Falcon

When it comes to road construction (and some of the worst roads), Pennsylvania's got everyone beat.  My wife once told me Ray Croc (founder of McDonalds) spoke at her college graduation over 20 years ago.  He started off his speech with You have a very beautiful state, now if you could only finish your road construction  

It was as true then as it is now.

Riddle:  What's yellow and sleeps six???

Answer:  PENNDOT truck ;D ;D ;D

Think about it.  Get yourself into the road construction business, build a road.

As soon as you finish with it, several years later, the first section you put in needs

rebuilt.  When you finish that, the next section needs rebuilt, and so on and so on.

When you finally finish rebuilding the road, the first section you rebuilt, needs re-rebuilt.

PRESTO  Instant career!  ;D

Moby... Ever see the PennDOT ABC's from the Post-Gazette back in 1999:

A -- Asphalt. A mix of tar, sand and gravel used to build roads. It ruts, cracks and turns into potholes after a couple of winters.

B -- Bureaucrats. PennDOT people who wear suits, shuffle papers, make big bucks and make excuses.

C -- Customers. That's what PennDOT calls us, at least in public. We're supposed to be treated like people who pay the bills, not morons.

D -- Detours. Ways to inconvenience and confuse motorists. When too much road work takes place in the same area at the same time, we have detours of detours.

E -- Engineers. Professional civil servants at PennDOT and the Port Authority. Their most notorious work includes Pittsburgh's "Bridge to Nowhere," the world's shortest interstate highway (I-579 below the Civic Arena) and the South Hills light-snail transit system, the slowest in North America.

F -- FIX-ROAD. A toll-free, 800 number you can call to report ruts, cracks and potholes in your road. Then call again next week. And again.

G -- Garbage. Causes many of our roadsides to look like dumps. People throw things out of vehicle windows, and materials sift and fall from trucks. Should PennDOT hire Molly Maids?

H -- High occupancy vehicles: buses, car pools and van pools. PennDOT builds HOV lanes for them, as on Interstate 279, to make the people stuck in rush-hour traffic jealous.

I -- Interstates. These limited-access highways represent our nation's best. Remember that the next time you're in traffic on the Parkway East and Parkway West.

J -- Joe. As in Joe Grata. If you want to keep your job at PennDOT, the Port Authority or Pennsylvania Turnpike, don't tell him nothin'.

K -- Kilometer, a measurement used by most of the world. After spending millions of dollars to convert to the metric system, PennDOT is spending millions of dollars changing back to inches, feet and miles.

L -- License plates. Numbers and letters that identify your vehicle. Pennsylvania has stealth plates. That is, the paint has disappeared, leaving bare sheets of aluminum that cops can't easily decipher.

M -- Mallory. That's Bradley L. Mallory. As Pennsylvania transportation secretary, he's boss at PennDOT and a member of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

N -- Novachip. A thin, special asphalt mix designed to seal highways against water penetration and extend pavement life. That's PennDOT parlance. We call this an "election special."

O -- Orange. The official state color, used in combination with white. Featured on barrels around highway work zones.

P -- Potholes. A Western Pennsylvania phenomenon, showing up in all shapes, sizes and depths. During winter, they often reappear overnight. Potholes make us the butt of jokes, but they're good for business: front-end alignments, hub cap outlets, muffler shops and asphalt suppliers.

Q -- Questions. PennDOT's policy on questions: Don't ask. Don't tell.

R -- Rest areas. Never stop if you're alone. Don't walk into the woods. If you do, don't ask. Don't tell.

S -- Shovels. Convenient devices to lean on.

T -- Taxes. Forty-four cents a gallon. They provide our smooth, free-flowing road system, high-tech traffic signals and modern, well-maintained bridges.

U -- Unicycles.

V -- Hold your first and second fingers up to flash this universal peace sign. Use only your middle finger, and you get the hand signal most often used in Pittsburgh traffic.

W -- Web site. The state has begun issuing new license plates carrying the state's Web address www.state.pa.us. We're advertising high-tech hopes to a world that drives our low-tech roads.

X -- Code name for one of the secret ingredients in Pennsylvania asphalt mixes.

Y -- The other secret ingredient. (The secret formula: X + Y = Inferior Pavement.)

Z -- Z-z-z-z-z. The sound of PennDOT employees on the job.

and for your added enjoyment.....

I actually have a shirt with the above graphics on it. ;D

Truer words were never spoken.

Now they want to toll I-80 and make everybody PAY to drive on a miserable road.

Well, why not?  It's gotta be right up there with the Pennsy turnpike and the

N.E. Extension.  

The area I live in has 3 main bridges crossing the IL river. They waited untill the 1st of September to start to work on all 3 at once. This is just plain stupid.

One of the roads is only a year old! What would you need to do to a 1 yr old bridge?

Some of the timing has to do with the government holding out on handing out the money for the jobs that have been bid out. That is the problem we are having right now, Tons of jobs bid out and contracted. But no money because the governor won't sign the bills needed. Its a pain in the butt i know but there is not much you can do. So when we finally get the money thats when traffic will be a pain lol, and yes it always seems start at the end of the construction year and makes a mess for the whole next year.