Grandpa, tell me bout the good ole days............

[turnkey4099]

Salt runs here all GPS controlled. Driver just along to keep truck on route. GPS set up by MisDirector of Department riding around in pickup some time during year. Odd thing, next town over got same equipment and ELECTED Highway Superintendent. Dey got cleaner pavement and better roads. Can't figure out why.

Back when I was a kid (don't ask) we rotated the road commissioner every term trying to get one who lived way out on a bad road.

 

[turnkey4099]

A bit OT, but speaking of sand on a couple of road trips out west I noticed roadside signs (mostly Nevada as I recall) that would say "fresh oil" or sometimes "sanded oil". What does this mean? Those sections of road didn't look any different than the rest of it.
This was probably 40-ish years ago, dunno if they still do it.

Prbably gravel roads that would get oiled to keep dust down going by residences. Common out here and usually has to be done by the resident. Dad used to contract it in Orofino, Idaho in the 50s. Got the used oild from service stations, etc.

 

[wheelbuilder]

I remember that as a kid in the 70s. I'm more amazed now that NY hadn't banned it by then.

You just brought back memories. I grew up in Milwaukee in a small blue collar house in a newer neighbor hood. I was maybe 6 so it was 1958? Our city street had not been paved yet, i'd forgotten that.

Once in a while someone would come running yelling, here comes the oil truck! You would have to get everything out of range, anything close to the street got splashed! They had a big tanker truck that sprayed oil on the gravel road. I guess to keep down the dust?

I also remember them fogging the entire neighborhood with i guess, DDT?

 

[Oldpath05]

Back 60 years ago here the state would spray sealer on the roads then a sander would spread sand over that, so we would have a sandy tar road for couple days. Now we just let tar cracks go til the road is re-hot topped bout every 5 years or so, then the ride is nice for a few more years and thats another reason why it cost so much to live here..

 

[Steppenwolfe]

You think the average citizen knows how best to vote on road maintenance?

Why not? Let's assume you are the average citizen... couldn't I trust you?

 

[LouNY]

I remember that as a kid in the 70s. I'm more amazed now that NY hadn't banned it by then.

Na, we had all that good oil from Ft. Edward with all the PCB's in it from the transformers.

 

[Jstpssng]

Na, we had all that good oil from Ft. Edward with all the PCB's in it from the transformers.

They're still trying to get rid of it that way, by mixing it with the asphalt.

I remember the sand and tar which OldPath mentions, and vaguely recall seeing it still being used when I was working in NY down near Cranberry Lake about 15 years ago. The work was completed by the time I went through though so I have to ask; do they still spread the gravel using convict labor, as they did in "Cool Hand Luke"?

 

[LouNY]

I haven't seen that being done,
they did and some places still do stone and oil but it is labor intensive to get a good job done,
it has to be brushed back in the wheel tracks several times and even multiple coats of oil.
so they do a skim coat of asphalt paving and complain when it breaks up just like the road under it was doing.

 

[BravoXray]

The county where I live started having roads that are pretty broken up and rough torn out down to the base material, part of the old asphalt is ground up and laid down as a new base, then a 2" or 3" layer of new asphalt laid down.
I think they finally realized that paving over cracks, even if they milled off a few inches first of the old stuff first, doesn't last long.
It'll be interesting to see how the new roads holds up.
Living in an area that has several freeze/thaw cycles every year makes you understand why roads go to pot so quickly up here.

 

[Dftodd]

Ihated that buzz saw when I was a kid. I was the 'take-off' guy. Stand right next to the huge 3' ddiameter blade grabbing ahold of each piece to toss it aside. Not a sign of a safety shield anyplace on it.

We had a buzz saw that mounted to the three point hitch on our tractor. Complete with a slide table and used the 3' diameter blade.

It had a shield on the back side of the blade, but none for the buisiness end. Spent many seasons grabbing and tossing.

We did the same with the chain saw as well.