Pot Holes

You know... I'm told it was a really bad winter and that's why the roads in Toronto (and surrounding areas) are so bad. But somehow, I don't buy it. Why not? Because we've had worse winters... I remember worse winters. And there are areas that get rougher winters than we did and don't have crap-tastic roads like ours.

To give those of you not in the GTA an idea of what I'm talking about, I'll tell you about the current road works.

First... our roads. Our roads are built roughly like this (and this is both city streets and highways): gravel & sand, then reinforced concrete, then asphalt, then another layer of asphalt. When the crews go out to resurface the 401 (as an example), they grind off the top layer of asphalt, let it sit for weeks on end and then resurface (nobody's really sure why... in some areas they grind and resurface immediately).

Well, lately, the summer road-work pre-season has started to 'fix' the potholes. Except this year... they've ground off BOTH layers of asphalt and there are STILL potholes!!! Yup, that's right, the potholes this year go right down into the reinforced concrete. And it's not just on the highways where there are heavy trucks increasing the problem, but also on streets that see almost exclusively passenger vehicle traffic. Right down to the concrete.

Madness, I tell you... sheer madness! I'm so glad I pay taxes for these outstanding quality roads. *sigh*