The Region's Worst Roads

[Acajack]

Spring is pothole season, so people... nominate the worst roads you've seen in Ottawa or Gatineau.

I have one nominee from each city:

Gatineau

Boulevard Gréber between La Vérendrye (near the police and fire HQs) and Montée Paiement (near the A-50 exit).

Ottawa

St. Patrick Street between King Edward and the Vanier Parkway (bridge over the Rideau River).

[Harley613]

Coventry Road between Best Buy and St. Laurent

[gjhall]

Really? Did CFRA take over this forum?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Really? Did CFRA take over this forum?

I am about as close as you can get to the polar opposite of a typical CFRA listener.

[Cre47]

I know Pink Road between Saint-Raymond and Vanier in Gatineau looks in terrible shape. Of course compounded by no shoulders and all heavy trucking rumbling towards construction areas for new homes. The segment between La Gravite and des Grives which is slated for widening soon looks like a road in a war zone. An absolute cow path.

I would assume similar cases in or new development areas.

[gjhall]

Why don't you guys call these in to 311 instead of posting them here?

I really struggle with the purpose or value of this thread, friends.

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Why don't you guys call these in to 311 instead of posting them here?

I really struggle with the purpose or value of this thread, friends.

It is not so much that the city doesn't know about these. Coventry has been patched and re-patched a few times this year alone. Cold patching helps but only does so much. It's really that some of these need a full repave and in some cases a full rebuild and have for many years.

Coventry should get it out of the watermain project at least.

[Dado]

It always struck me that dumping a bunch of cold patch into a water-filled pothole was never going to provide much of an effective patch.

For starters the holes ought to be squared-off before they're patched. Masonry saws are not that hard to come by. The asphalt around the edge of a pothole is already close to failing, and it's impossible to get a good seal against a rough edge anyway.

Next, the water, if present, should be removed. I've got a little drill pump that could do it for most holes, but larger pumps are obviously available. Heck, some of the water could be used to keep down the dust from the masonry saw.

Finally, fill the pothole and actually compact it. Not that nonsense with a steel plate on the bottom of a handle, but an actual bona fide plate compactor, like the ones that go on the end of a jack hammer.


More broadly though, I wonder if paving our roads with asphalt is such a good idea at all. It's really not that durable of a material. I can't help but wonder if something like concrete or concrete pavers might not prove to be more durable over the long term. Most Dutch residential streets (and then some) are paved with concrete pavers; it sure would be interesting to do a pilot project on a few residential streets, say in Centretown, to see how they hold up.

And while we're at it, drain the streets to the centre, as well. Standing water that can freeze and thaw is the enemy of road surface integrity, which is what we get with edge-of-street drains blocked by snow and ice.

[McC]

Originally Posted by Dado

And while we're at it, drain the streets to the centre, as well. Standing water that can freeze and thaw is the enemy of road surface integrity, which is what we get with edge-of-street drains blocked by snow and ice.

This, plus splash splash splash for poor pedestrians!

[c_speed3108]

I have always thought it would be a good idea to build roads like a sink and have them drain to the middle. It would also solve the snow blocking the drains problem too.

The other issue is that need to make a point of putting all utility heads, man hole covers under either the sidewalk, the median or grass areas beside the road. Things sticking up in the road are one of the key areas where the pavement breaks down. They need to remove these everywhere possible when (re-)building roads.


The trouble I find with the wide world of civil engineering is that it has developed into a profession of orthodoxies. Everything is done a certain way, because that is how it's always been done, its the standard, the guidelines or whatever. There is almost no willingness to try anything different.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

I have always thought it would be a good idea to build roads like a sink and have them drain to the middle. It would also solve the snow blocking the drains problem too.

The other issue is that need to make a point of putting all utility heads, man hole covers under either the sidewalk, the median or grass areas beside the road. Things sticking up in the road are one of the key areas where the pavement breaks down. They need to remove these everywhere possible when (re-)building roads.


The trouble I find with the wide world of civil engineering is that it has developed into a profession of orthodoxies. Everything is done a certain way, because that is how it's always been done, its the standard, the guidelines or whatever. There is almost no willingness to try anything different.

That's definitely the truth of it, especially in North America. I find Ontario's to be amongst the worst in the slavish adherence to standard designs beyond all logic and reason. Today's civil engineers are hardly the successors to the Roman engineers, or even those of the 19th century who created much of the industrial world. Creativity just seems to have been drummed out of the profession completely. My guess is that it happened sometime in the postwar era.

With respect to centreline drainage, it is a tad amusing that a number of private roads do indeed drain to the centre, but that's probably because a parking lot standard is being applied to them.

[S-Man]

Really? Did CFRA take over this forum?

If you're offended, the thread can still live on after you begin ignoring it.

CTV is covering potholes. Everyone is griping about potholes. This is a forum about city stuff. Roads are part of the city. Maybe if you talk to the moderator, you have have this infuriating threat shut down.

Otherwise, I don't see what your beef is.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by S-Man

If you're offended, the thread can still live on after you begin ignoring it.

CTV is covering potholes. Everyone is griping about potholes. This is a forum about city stuff. Roads are part of the city. Maybe if you talk to the moderator, you have have this infuriating threat shut down.

Otherwise, I don't see what your beef is.

I get that I was being a Mr. Complainypants, it just seems a little below our usual level of discourse.

There are a lot of pretty clever people here, and when we discuss bigger and better issues, I think we are producing a conversation that has value.

I didn't feel the same about this conversation, and thought I would share my view to that effect.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

The trouble I find with the wide world of civil engineering is that it has developed into a profession of orthodoxies. Everything is done a certain way, because that is how it's always been done, its the standard, the guidelines or whatever. There is almost no willingness to try anything different.

I hear you...however, if you want to know how bad it is, go to a small rural municipality where road widths, cambers, turn radii are all based on the turning circle and manoeuvrability of the township plow.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by Dado

It always struck me that dumping a bunch of cold patch into a water-filled pothole was never going to provide much of an effective patch.

Doesn't Ottawa use hot mix now? When I saw them out a month ago the stuff was steaming after they had left.

They were compacting it with a spade though...

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Doesn't Ottawa use hot mix now? When I saw them out a month ago the stuff was steaming after they had left.

They were compacting it with a spade though...

Let's all learn about this together, courtesy of Mathieu Fleury:

http://vimeo.com/90776669

[S-Man]

When I want a hot mix, I....um, never mind..

I get that I was being a Mr. Complainypants, it just seems a little below our usual level of discourse.

There are a lot of pretty clever people here, and when we discuss bigger and better issues, I think we are producing a conversation that has value.

I didn't feel the same about this conversation, and thought I would share my view to that effect.

Reply With Quote

Fair enough. I was just hoping for a thread where I can make humorous descriptions about the size of potholes. (In the "That pothole was so big, it...." way of speaking).

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by S-Man

When I want a hot mix, I....um, never mind..



Fair enough. I was just hoping for a thread where I can make humorous descriptions about the size of potholes. (In the "That pothole was so big, it...." way of speaking).

That I can support.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Let's all learn about this together, courtesy of Mathieu Fleury:

http://vimeo.com/90776669

It figures that the first 3:15 of the 3:30 video was about the bureaucratic process the City uses to learn about, aggregate reports and assign a crew to fill a pothole.

Sigh.

Hopeless. Truly hopeless.

[rocketphish]

Carling Avenue still one of Ontario's worst roads

Marie-Danielle Smith, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 28, 2014, Last Updated: May 28, 2014 8:49 AM EDT

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has once again named Carling Avenue in Ottawa as one of Ontario’s 10 worst roads.

For 2014, Carling Avenue was the only Ottawa road on the list, taking seventh spot.

That’s a little worse than last year. In 2013, Carling Avenue was the ninth worst road.

Seven of the 10 worst roads are in Toronto, up from four last year, with Dufferin Street taking the infamous position as Ontario’s worst road.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...os-worst-roads