Bannedjoe
Well-known member
I have a 6 mile dirt road trek before I get to my roads that I maintain.
The roads weren't built by the county, so they lay no claim to them.
They do maintain them from time to time under something called the Tristan act.
I'm assuming it's a local thing?
There have been a number of blade operators over the years, and some have done better work than others.
The worst part about the road is the wash boarding.
When we first moved out here, it would be a rarity to pass another car on this road.
FF a number of years...
Someone bought an 80 square mile ranch 10 miles above us, chopped it into 80's and 160's and sold it off.
It was pretty much a scam. They told prospective buyers there would be a town with shopping, restaurants, and an airstrip large enough to land a commercial jet.
Many people bought into this, buying land at exorbitant prices.
People started HOA's and POA's.
Quite a few folks built homes, only to find the developer scooped up all their money and ran.
Many bailed, but quite a few stayed.
Traffic increased greatly.
It's not uncommon now to pass at least 10 vehicles either coming or going on any given trip in or out.
Many of these people are just plain hauling ass, and driving way too fast for these roads. I have to wonder, what's the big hurry?
But nonetheless, there's cars, contractors, 18 wheelers hauling building materials, cement trucks etc. who use this road all day.
Then there's the cowboys tending their range cattle who also haul ass with trailers full of horses and cattle.
Needless to say, most times this road is absolute shit.
In certain places, I've seen the washboard grow to 4 to 6 inches in height.
Yesterday it was so bad that I had to slow down to about 3 miles an hour in places to keep my old pickup from bouncing off the road, or just plain getting pounded to death.
Sorry, long story to get to this point.
When grading a dirt road, is the object to cut out the washboard, or just fill it in?
One of our old operators would drop the moldboard deep enough to rip out the the washboard out before resurfacing.
The road would remain pretty good for a few weeks at best.
This new guy barely skims the tops, and basically just fills them in.
The next asshole comes along doing 50mph and just sucks the dirt back out, leaving the road almost as bad as it was before it was bladed.
I'm tempted to stop the grader when I see him and ask if they take the cutting edges out of his paycheck.
I'm also tempted to call the head of operations and just plain ask what the proper procedure is.
Maybe they've changed the standard for some reason?
Maybe they have no idea that this guy is a shitty operator?
They appear to spend more time cutting drainage on either side of the road than on the road itself.
Granted, they grade this road as almost a favor, but it's still my tax dollars paying for it.
So...what is the proper procedure?
The roads weren't built by the county, so they lay no claim to them.
They do maintain them from time to time under something called the Tristan act.
I'm assuming it's a local thing?
There have been a number of blade operators over the years, and some have done better work than others.
The worst part about the road is the wash boarding.
When we first moved out here, it would be a rarity to pass another car on this road.
FF a number of years...
Someone bought an 80 square mile ranch 10 miles above us, chopped it into 80's and 160's and sold it off.
It was pretty much a scam. They told prospective buyers there would be a town with shopping, restaurants, and an airstrip large enough to land a commercial jet.
Many people bought into this, buying land at exorbitant prices.
People started HOA's and POA's.
Quite a few folks built homes, only to find the developer scooped up all their money and ran.
Many bailed, but quite a few stayed.
Traffic increased greatly.
It's not uncommon now to pass at least 10 vehicles either coming or going on any given trip in or out.
Many of these people are just plain hauling ass, and driving way too fast for these roads. I have to wonder, what's the big hurry?
But nonetheless, there's cars, contractors, 18 wheelers hauling building materials, cement trucks etc. who use this road all day.
Then there's the cowboys tending their range cattle who also haul ass with trailers full of horses and cattle.
Needless to say, most times this road is absolute shit.
In certain places, I've seen the washboard grow to 4 to 6 inches in height.
Yesterday it was so bad that I had to slow down to about 3 miles an hour in places to keep my old pickup from bouncing off the road, or just plain getting pounded to death.
Sorry, long story to get to this point.
When grading a dirt road, is the object to cut out the washboard, or just fill it in?
One of our old operators would drop the moldboard deep enough to rip out the the washboard out before resurfacing.
The road would remain pretty good for a few weeks at best.
This new guy barely skims the tops, and basically just fills them in.
The next asshole comes along doing 50mph and just sucks the dirt back out, leaving the road almost as bad as it was before it was bladed.
I'm tempted to stop the grader when I see him and ask if they take the cutting edges out of his paycheck.
I'm also tempted to call the head of operations and just plain ask what the proper procedure is.
Maybe they've changed the standard for some reason?
Maybe they have no idea that this guy is a shitty operator?
They appear to spend more time cutting drainage on either side of the road than on the road itself.
Granted, they grade this road as almost a favor, but it's still my tax dollars paying for it.
So...what is the proper procedure?