Why is it that when they lay down roads and sewer lines the manhole covers are either under your left or right wheel track? It’s never in the center that you run over the top of them. Of course overtime and repaving they become nothing more better then a man made pothole!

Have you considered auditioning for “60 Minutes”?

I’d never make it because I’m not PC

I've studied surveys a lot over the last 40 years. On the last survey I have, the sewer lines are put in the legal right-of-way of the street outside of the cartway where the vehicles actually run. The manholes are probably placed off-center in the cartway to be close to where the sewer line actually runs.

The water people will come through to repair the water line, digging up the road and making an ugly ill fitting patch in the seal.

A few weeks later the phone company will come through, dig up part of the water patch and some of the original seal then make their ugly patch to match the water one.

Not long afterwards the power company will come through adding to the mess.

The local council will eventually reseall the roadway. Not long afterwards a water pipe will burst and the whole cycle begins again.

A very long time ago (mid 80’s) the then council in Auckland wanted to replace and upgrade a major roundabout. They insisted all utility companies upgrade their infrastructure through the roundabout area first. It took a year.

Once the roundabout was rebuilt it wasn less than 6 months before the digging began again.

Did you ever notice that they will come in and tar and chip a road that there is absolutely nothing wrong with but the “Roadmaster” will tell you it was done as road maintenance for the longevity of the road?
Yeah right!

No help for your manhole question but a tidbit of roadway trivia I picked up while rerouting natural gas mains on Long Island.

One of the townships in Suffolk County, Smithtown I think, treats it's Depression era roadways that were constructed by the Work Projects Administration like gold. They have learned that these old roads are the best constructed roads ever built in this country, and will never give a utility permission to touch them.


Any other road can be cut into, but the WPA roads get Jacked or Directional Drilled. Out of curiosity, I walked a section of that old road we were protecting. It was in perfect shape after sixty years of use. One obvious difference was a high ratio of large aggregate in the concrete mix.

Doesn't matter where they put 'em up here, Mrs Magoo will find 'em.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Back in my misspent youth one of my summer jobs was working on the township road department, and no, I was not wearing striped clothes. I was one of the stone shovelers and backup roller operator. Up in northeast Ohio we tried to keep ahead on the road maintenance by filling in the cracks with tar and gravel and then packing it down well with the roller. The roller made a big difference in the durability of the repaired road surface. The patchwork was intended to keep the water out of the cracks and freezing and breaking up the roads.

Low integrity/ low IQ people doing the manhole/sewer jobs that don't give
a damn and just wanna get the job done!

That would be my city.

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It's Alive !!

Down here the roads are generally hard packed base with a layer of tar and chip over the top. After three days the excess chip is swept away, the road markings reinstated and it's good to go.

Well that's the theory anyway. In practice the low speed limit across the road works and for 72 house after sealing is ignored. On large repairs the contractors spend the first half of the day fixing up the damage caused to the precious days work overnight.

Every October-mid December and May - end of June is "crack sealing season". Thats when the contractors go around their area fixing all the cracks that develop in the seal. They will dig up a few meters of roadway, repack and reseal it. Sometimes it is a hole sometimes it is a long ribbon seal.

The season is coming to an end now, but back in early May I took my wife to Auckland for a checkup at the transplant clinic. We came back late at night. I drove for 20 minutes through a 50 km/h temporary zone with a small repair every 700 m - 1 km. And that was through an area of relatively straight road with 1/2 hour either side of narrow twisting valleys and gorges.

Even after we got onto the "good" road the crack sealing was regularly encountered adding at least an hour to the drive.

And remember, this goes on for several months twice a year!

We have one in front of our house and the cover is loose and when cars run over it, it goes clang clang.

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Don

Wow. Just wow.
What came first, the pipeline or the road?
You've never seen a roadway being widened? I'd guess not.
I'd go on but this here lowlife has to go to work...

On my old block (we moved only two blocks away 23 years ago to a larger house) there was a "Big Shot" Supervisor living across the street who works for the Town. That block got resurfaced every few years, plowed every hour or so when it snowed, swept clean with the water sweeping trucks, always had the sidewalks repaired after a tree broke them up, BEFORE the really bad blocks got serviced. Coincidence?? Uhhhhh, NO!

When I lived there we loved it! Now I WISH that guy would move on to my block again- LOL!!

I guess that is the reason man hole covers are replaced in such a sloppy way. If there is a painted strip on the man hole cover and the cover is removed, there is no attempt to realign the painted strip on the cover with the strip on the roadway when the cover is replaced. The covers are just plopped down with no concern of the painted road strip! Also, when the traffic strips are repainted, no attempt is made to realign the covers with the existing strips so we get man hole covers with crossed lines on them.

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Bill

Manhole covers = board put over the outhouse seat to keep the critters out.
Sewer line = runs from the tank in the back yard.
Water line = goes from well pit in the front yard to the house.

Why do you have them all in the road?

To keep it far from the house so it doesnt stink.

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Don

Here they come in, remove the old pavement, re-pack the dirt, do a really nice job with new pavement and striping and all of that. Then the city water and sewer comes in and jack hammers out a 10'X10' square out of the pavement, digs down to the mainline, replaces the man hole from the pipeline up, refills the hole with loose fill, dump asphalt in the hole, and smooth it over with shovels, and call it good.


The dirt settles, the asphalt crumbles and we're good to go for another 5 or 6 years.


I saw a sign stuck in one of the holes the other day. "Don't fill this hole, My Volkswagen is in it.!"

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Eccentric old coot

My exact thought when I read that!
Andy needs to be replaced since he passed.

Yes, that is the Pennsylvania I know so well....
A friend almost died in an accident where the manhole cover was loose and the hole swallowed her front tire and wheel. The abrupt stop totaled the car and almost sent her to the great beyond.
There are several I have learned to miss by hugging the yellow line. Oncoming traffic does not like me. Oh well. As long as they are not on their cell phone I am okay.

The point was your post title was the late Andy Rooney’s signature line on his “60 Minutes” segment.

It’s like Harry Cary’s “Holy Cow!” and Keith Jackson’s “Ho Nelly!”.

I always liked Andy Rooney,,,I took your comment somewhat as a compliment.

I liked Andy, I only watched the last 5 minutes of that show.

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Don

Speaking of which:
The Gas Man Cometh - Flanders and Swann - YouTube

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Oh well, what the hell.

You do realize that one of utility companies left a ticking bomb there just to show who is boss. Councils or customers setting schedules and deadlines doesn't work for their mindset, so a message had to be sent.

The issue we have here is that the city will have a big project on a major surface street and allow the same contractor to have simultaneous action on the parallel streets that could take the traffic. The pathetic excuse for this is that the contractors spend less time getting all the work done as they can quickly shuffle men and machines from one task to another. This works in a business sense, but not for the folk that live, work or have to travel through those areas. Still, the mighty dollar is king and the large local paving company clearly has the city and county bought and paid for, so the chaos will continue.

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Release the Kraken

It would seem the German's have invented a great way to repair their manholes. I would guess it was invented by one of these guys in this video, after all it would appear the way they work it must be time for a beer and a bratwurst.

terry

would never work in Louisiana-we don't fix our roads.

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Forum consigliere

When the tide gets high, saltwater bubbles up through the manhole covers here.

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Halfway and one more step

Lowest bidder.

I have it on good authority that our state mineral is asphalt.

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it just needs more voltage