Heads up for those traveling through Indiana for the Columbus event. I made a trip up there this week and I-70 is like driving through a minefield. May want to have a look at US 40. D
Yeah that roads a fucking nightmare. We took it across the state a few months ago and even in a late model I about had my teeth knocked out.
I always thought Illinois I-70 was bad enough but on a trip a few years ago I thought I must have missed a warning sign at the Indiana border that said "Pavement Ends". Sounds like it hasn't improved. Lynn
No need to worry about Illinois roads and bridges, they're gonna be just fine with the higher tax on gas and dollar a pack on cigarettes!
Why is it so hard to fix the roads in this country before they get to the point they are now? Do all of the $&@“#%<~¥£ing elected officials in this country own stock in Moog, Monroe, and all of the other suspension part companies? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
...yeah, that's if the $ go where they are supposed to...I know this thread is gettin political and will be shut down soon,..sorry to OP.
Of course Kansas is flat to start with so road building is simply painting lines . And yes, that's a joke! Don't beat me up.
TRAVEL ON I-70 Hello, I-70 through Indiana was our planned return road from the summer road trip to Maine and the Eastern coastline. But, something stopped us before we even got to St. Louis on Highway 40 from the OKC. We have never been in a dead stop traffic jam, in the middle of nowhere for an hour, let alone, creeping along for another mile in So Cal. It was part of our USA road trip and the destination was St. Louis, before heading farther East. We were told that most Midwestern states do roadwork during the summer to “fix” up the surface roads prior to the oncoming, bad weather, winter months. No one told us in So Cal, so we thought roads/interstate highways were always smooth and functional. The second hour stoppage and only going about three miles, gave us a major decision. Get off of the freeway and head back West for a new "on the spot" vacation road trip. Or trudge through mind boggling roads to get to St. Louis and beyond for the rest of the summer. My wife took over and headed for Kansas City on some very fast back roads. Now, this is/was a country road trip driving. Endless sightings of rolled up haybales, farmlands and actual smooth country highways. We joined the I-70 going West to Colorado on the flattest road, ever. Jnaki Our big complaint was that we had never been in sideways rain/wind before, let alone, on a long, flat road.(I-70) There was nowhere to stop, so we trudged Westward. But, someone did not tell those big truckers to slow down and share the road, especially during a driving rainstorm. Twice, there were two cars that pulled off to the side of the road to let that stupid big rig drivers get by us. It was not on a sunny day, flat road driving, but on a sideways rainstorm with zero visibility at high speed wiper power. Who teaches these drivers the rules of the road anyway? We were slightly sorry we did not get to the Eastern coastline and come back through the Great Lakes area as planned. Indianapolis was a stop over that was already reserved in the month long trip…It had to be cancelled, as well as the stops all along the way to Maine and back west to Chicago.
@jnaki awwww.....come on!.....it's not THAT bad out there....is it!.... I guess everything IS relative..... Ray
We definitely should make a trip to Mars or the moon. We can afford it. I bet there’s better roads there.
I don't know about other states but in Indiana the state government requires each county to send all it's road tax money to Indianapolis. They turn around and give back each county some of the money back for them to use in their county. If you notice Indianapolis always have the best roads around the city. Always new construction going on at the cost of all the other counties in the state. That's why all the other roads in the state are crap.
A little off topic but.............In SC they take a big chunk of the gas tax $$$ (from larger cities with more people,duh) and spend it on the rural back roads (to enable farmers to get their product to market,yeah back in the 30's!!) Sooooo we have great country roads and horrible city roads(were all the traffic is!!!!) "Don't worry...I'm from the government and I'm here to help you!" 6sally6
@jnaki, I want to apologize for the "new breed" of truck drivers out there today that make me not want to tell anybody that trucking has been my profession for 35 years now. Sadly, these new breed drivers are just as bad as a lot of the auto drivers, or maybe even worse. I think one thing is the loss of quality driver education classes in high schools several years ago, these young folks parents weren't taught the proper rules of the road and passed their bad driving habits on to their offspring. You can watch videos on youtube of some of the idiotic things these "drivers" are doing in trucks, it's embarrassing to say the least. Common sense seems to be totally unknown to them, much less the physics of 80,000 lbs of metal and fiberglass going down the road. And just as guilty in my eye is the companies that don't give these guys proper training before turning them loose on the highways, and then trying to dispatch them at 80 mph in a 62 mph truck. They push them until they break or quit, then stick a new driver in the seat and repeat the process. I've got over 3 million safe miles in my 35 year career, one million with one company, and two million with the company I'm with now, so I know what I'm talking about. Safe drivers aren't born that way, they are educated and trained. And a little luck can go a long way....
I'm a 40 year 'career' truck driver here in Australia. I retired from a semi-retirement job driving for a local council last November. When I travel towing my drag race trailer I like to keep an eye out for the truckies and not do anything to give them a shitty day like not travelling alongside them in multi lanes especially when the slow lane is merging. What I have noticed is the new breed of truck driver, sorry, steering wheel attendant, just barge their way around and haven't got a clue about keeping the truck at a steady , flowing speed. I blame it on 2 things. First thing is I drove trucks because I enjoyed the job. Nowadays for the young ones it's just a job. I did and still do like to get the gear change just right whether it be in a truck, daily driver or in the HA/GR in my avatar. The second worse thing to happen to truck driving was the automatics. Now companies only need 'point and shoot' drivers. I shall now climb down off my soapbox.
I don't do much interstate driving these days. I like to use the state highways, many of them are 4 lane and most are in pretty good shape. The speed limit isn't 80 mph, but you get to see the real America. If you do a little investigating, there is a road system roads designated as Interstate Alternatives that use much better roads. They may take a bit longer to get where your going, but at least you will arrive with a much happier butt and back. Gene
The Jalopy Journal
