Thursday, February 21, 2008

Letter to the Spokesman-Review Editor Re: Potholes

Letters to the editor- Feb. 21
Europeans prevent potholes

Potholes! Am I surprised to see so many potholes? No. Do we make road builders guarantee their work? No again. Why can't we learn from England and Europe? In England, according to Reader's Digest, a 40-year life cycle cost analysis is required for all pavement designs. Europeans don't have to worry about potholes like we do. They use the best materials scientific research dictates. The French mix their asphalt with quality additives such as rubber, carbon, polyethylene and a product called Novophalt.

Why are we living in the Dark Ages? You get what you pay for, and we keep paying for the same old potholes. Next year we can pay for them again. Why can't we demand that they use the very best materials? For new construction, the federal government seems to require we use the lowest bid, but not on maintenance. We have driven over 3,500 miles in Europe and not one pothole.

Wilma Stork
Spokane

So what do you think? I've never been to Europe or researched their roads, is Wilma right?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.