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I get to drive and ride over a potholed, dirt/gravel road, which led to a horribly patched up paved road, to the village and main road. These roads were awful but passable. But last month WV's district 4 road crew ground a couple inches of humps and patches off the "paved road" then covered it with 4" of 1.5" stone. When I called I was told the road was in their cost saving "paved roads back to gravel roads program". Down hill isn't so bad but 2wd vehicles have to spin and churn their way up through this mess going up hill. My Yamaha T700 is a handful on it but I'm afraid to risk the Goldwing sliding over so it just sits in the garage now.  Hopefully in a few more weeks the worst of the stone will be washed and spread off into the ditches and I can get the Wing out. What a complete waste of money by WV DOH's incompetent District 4!This message has been edited. Last edited by: ridewv, No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | ||
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Nullus Anxietas |
The county in which we live, up here in SE Michigan, is talking about doing that. They claim gravel roads are much lower-maintenance than paved roads. I wonder how much more evidence people need that Western civilization is actually regressing before they finally wake up to the fact that maybe, just maybe, we're doing something wrong? "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher | |||
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Don't Panic |
That they are. Somehow, I doubt they are then giving tax rebates due to all the savings.... | |||
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| Member |
Another Mountaineer in Spencer. Same gravel story here. Nothing like a new wax job on a dusty gravel road. The mayor lives out in the country also, but his road is, you guessed it. Paved. I’m never surprised anymore. | |||
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| Member |
ensigmatic IMO that is a mistake, small roads should be tar and chip (or chip sealed). As mentioned the road I live off of is dirt/gravel. DOH crew comes maybe twice each year (once with a grader) with some stone to fill the holes but 3 weeks later the holes are back just as deep as before. I refill them by scraping any loose stone back in them with the tractor but that only works a couple times until the stone is all gone, so we bounce through holes for 4-5 more months until DOH comes back. This just repeats. DOH crews also spend a lot of time patching paved roads but they don't do actually paving, that is contracted out (and is very expensive) so not much gets put down in our district. So WV DOH "maintains" gravel roads, patches paved ones, and cleans out ditches. Contrast this with PA. The dirt/gravel road I live off continues north into PA, no "Welcome to Pennsylvania" sign is needed because you know when you cross the line because the road becomes smooth and paved. PennDot crews (not expensive contractors) chip seal their small roads every few years even when they don't appear to need done. In other words they don't let them go to hell then try to fix and patch. Their crews brush the road off, apply tar sealant, cover with a thin layer of chip stone, then brush off the excess, and a crew can do miles of this in one day. After 3 weeks or so any remaining loose chips have been rolled in from traffic or kicked off to the berm and the macadam is just as smooth as asphalt and even more grippy. WV DOH District 4 northern devision does not even have the machinery to chip seal roads, after their machinery wore out years ago it was never replaced. No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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| Member |
Sorry to hear you get similar service recoatlift. Tell me why I can ride over to the next county, say Tucker, which is in a different district, and never find a pot hole? Little roads with only a handful of houses are paved. Paved roads with hardly a crack are repaved. That county has only 1/6th the population paying tax and buying gasoline as Preston. Pocahontas and Pendleton counties, Morefield, Big Bend and Smoke hole areas, eastern panhandle, the roads are in nice shape. No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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| Member |
Most paved secondary roads in MQT County resemble pig trails. Rutted, potholed and poorly patched. The shoulders are often sunken and this makes the crown very high. The constant whining from the County Road Commission is "we have no money"! The gravel roads? In much better shape! Provided they remove all the old pavement and grade it properly, I am all for converting to gravel. Hey, Whitmer? Remember "fix the damn roads"? Return my plate money and fuel tax, you thief! End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
Call the county commissioners office and ask the questions, and complain they have now made your road impassable in a safe manner for your motorcycle(s), as well as difficult to drive up, damaging the vehicles from tossed gravel. Go to meetings and take the whole population of the holler with you to raise cain.... | |||
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| Member |
I've called and written the Governor on down to the head of district 4 and the Delegate of my County. My neighbor has too only she actually started with Joe (Manchin). The roads in WV are maintained by the State and divided into 10 districts, not the County like they used to be many years ago. District 4 (consisting of 5 Counties) which we're in has the most miles of roads. I'm trying to find out how much money for maintenance has been going to each district. The response we're getting is "we've put in for paving that road but if it's approved it won't be until next year", which could be anywhere between July 1 2023 to June 30 2024. When I called back asking what they can do meanwhile, until it gets paved, to make it passable for motorcycles, bicycles, small cars, etc., there was no one available to speak with me, they were all attending a week long conference in Charleston. Why in the hell would they hold their road conference in the busiest time of the year for fixing roads? How about February? No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss  |
Until they develop washboards everywhere, which usually takes a grand total of about two weeks, making them next to impassable at anything over about 15MPH. Then it'll take the county about three years to get out and grade it. Then, the cycle starts again. Of course, around here, the paved roads with potholes aren't a whole lot better. Once or twice a year they'll send a truck full of asphalt around with a couple flunkies. They toss a few shovel-fulls in the hole and then back over it to mash it down and then on to the next one. I'm so happy when property tax time comes around. ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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Alea iacta est |
You’re driving washboards incorrectly. You need to drive fast enough your tires don’t fall down into the washboard. You want to just ride the tops of the washboard. It takes all the bums out. I found in my Jeep with 35’s deflated to 18 psi, 40-45 is the perfect speed. Your contact patch is really reduced, so things like steering and the ability to stop are significantly diminished. The “lol” thread | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss |
They're over-rated anyway.  ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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| Member |
Yes traditional washboard you have to go very, very slow or pretty fast like 45+ mph so there's not time for your wheels to drop, you just "skim across the tops". Some washboard is now on this road going up hill from where tires spin piling up loose material behind until it hits solid ground then lurches forward to spin more loose material into another pile. It's really a mess. Think of throwing out 4-5" of 1 1/2" stone on a hill in your yard then running a yard roller over it. Now try to drive your car across or up that, the stone's going sink a little but still rut and move around some right? What WV DOT did was far worse, now imagine putting down 4-5" of this stone on your paved driveway! It looks smooth right after it's rolled but every car and truck car will make lengthwise ruts and piles in that mess and going up hills the spinning tires add little piles. I don't think I mentioned that so many people called saying they could hardly drive their cars through it the DOH sent a guy with a loader and small dump truck back to remove some of the stone in the worst places. Him needing somewhere to put it he trucked it to the potholed dirt/gravel road I live off that continues north into PA. Good right? Wrong.... he didn't tailgate 1-2" of it 2 miles to the line then grade it to fill the holes and ruts, that would take a little time and effort. Instead he tailgated the stone deep, 6" deep in many places, all the way to my driveway and 1/4 mile beyond. My dirt road was then even worse than the ruined paved road, but not for long. I used my tractor with bucket and rear blade and after 5 hours had the section from my drive out to the "paved back to gravel road" in pretty nice shape. And I have a large pile of stone from the 25-30- buckets I removed, which'll be enough to fill holes for the next few years. Unfortunately 1 1-2" stone quickly gets pushed out of potholes but I'll hit them every few weeks or so. The main point of my "deal" or rant is how WV DOH District 4 is incompetently run. They wasted a "lot* of manpower, machine time, and I don't know how many tri-axle loads of stone to make a horrible road even worse. No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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| Thank you Very little |
Well, there's social media and the news, what about your state district representative, just have to keep plugging along, squeaky wheel gets the grease. Good luck on getting it fixed. | |||
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| Member |
Thanks HRK and yes I'll just keep at it. I just received this reply to my Email I sent yesterday, to our district representative. Thanks for the email, Im just as frustrated about the road conditions as you are and you are right to contact the Governors office about it, the DOH is under his control not the legislature. Feel free to contact me any time though, im doing what I can. No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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| I'm entitled to this Title |
That's pretty wild. We had such a Surplus that we were giving away C0VID prizes two years ago, and now we are placing stone over paved roads.  | |||
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| Member |
Every few years Allegheny County will let its pubic works dept. attempt to pave roads. Usually within a year or two they will have to have a contractor come out and redo the road. A few SF members given the instruction manual and keys to a paver could do an equivalent job. | |||
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| Member |
You better send the state a bill for your time in fixing the road they messed up! | |||
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| Low Profile Member |
They claim gravel roads are much lower-maintenance than paved roads. I imagine dirt would be even better. Hell, a path through some weeds would be really cheap if that's all that matters. idiots | |||
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| Member |
Yes they "claim" that but right here in the same area WV spends more time and effort maintaining gravel roads than PA does tar and chip roads. And our gravel roads are "OK" for maybe a month after they work on them then the holes are back and the stone over the hill or in the ditches. DOH may tend the gravel roads twice a year so we have 2 months of decent and 10 months of holes. I rate these gravel roads a D- Meanwhile PA's little roads are re-tarred and chipped on schedule every 2-3 years, they are smooth and usually with nice berms. I rate them A. So WV spends more time (and probably money) on our D- roads than PA does on their A roads. No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride. | |||
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