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Sunday, March 22, 2020

Repaving Rt. 50 Mystery?

There are many of us who live in Ocean City who just can't understand what the heck is going on. Perhaps one of you can provide the answer.

Over the past few weeks they have been scraping the humps to flatten them out. Then a week later they ground out those sections that were scraped and put blacktop pavement, (as seen above) in its place. 

Now they are completely scraping out the entire roadway to prepare for new pavement. The question is, WHY did they go through all that trouble to repair the humps only to come back two weeks later to tear it all out again? Inquiring minds want to know. 

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have to remove/patch the bumps before you overlay the new blacktop. Otherwise the new blacktops will have bumps.

Anonymous said...


"..The question is, WHY did they go through all that trouble to repair the humps only to come back two weeks later to tear it all out again? Inquiring minds want to know.."

Generally, the best answer to that question would be "Follow the Money".

Who (or whose friend) is making the big bucks on this. Or could this be 'busywork' to keep some union people happy?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps funding wasn't approved yet so the scraping was a temporary repair measure?

Anonymous said...

humps may have interfered with a continuous milling

Anonymous said...

It seems today's Public Works departments have forgotten real world science in repairing these joints. You see a long stretch of concrete expands in the summer heat and shrinks as it cools down, so expansion joints are placed typically every 20 feet and filled with a material that will keep out foreign materials.
as the joints age, the expansion material degrades allowing sand and grit to get in which does not compress during hot weather, thus causing overpressure at the joints causing breakage and heaving during hot summer days. Grinding flat and topping over fails to cure the underlying problem so the next winter the topping cracks open, sand goes in, and then it all happens again the next summer. Until the joints are properly cut out and replaced with new joint material, this will be an annual problem growing exponentially each year.

Thing is, every Public Works department has a book on this on a shelf in their office that would fix stupid, but Stupid doesn't read anymore.

Anonymous said...

Often times, there is federal money involved, and if they don't use it, they can't get it the next year...

Anonymous said...

Two different pots of SHA money, two SHA subgroups with different missions , two SHA administrators who don't communicate well with one another, one senior SHA administrator who is oblivious to shortcomings in his management team, and little concern for details this small at the comptroller's or governor's level.
Did I miss anypne?

Of course it could be that those spots needed more than regular milling (disturbed substrate) and then received temporary patches after the deeper repairs. This would be considered prep work that will prevent the premature failure of a new surface seen when installed over a faulty base.


I prefer to think that the second scenario is more likely , but I don't wholly or universally discount the first.

JoeAlbero said...

What I'm saying is that this seems to be a huge waste of money. It went from the Rt. 50 draw bridge to Heron Creek, both sides east and west. Since they were grinding up the entire highway anyway, why patch if days before grinding? I understand the expansion parts but they did a three part process. First they ground down the humps every 20 feet, (as stated). Then they came back and removed large sections as shown in the picture. Now they are grinding the entire highway. It just makes no sense, especially financially. Look, a LOT of people are asking why.

Anonymous said...

Look at how many times the sidewalks have been replaced in Salisbury on Route 13. They put new ones in and tear them right out and replace them again.

Anonymous said...

The city and especially the Mayor and City Council have no idea how to over see and manage, their is no planning or forethought. This is with every department in the city the gas lines are being replaced and that's a good thing, meters replaced good thing. The problem is with everything the city does or contracts out is done a little at a time and come back and redo and completion takes forever because they hop skip and jump from one thing to the other, planning and execution are the problems.

Anonymous said...

✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️

Anonymous said...

Good ole boys Double dipping $

Anonymous said...

They have to patch it or they are liable for lawsuits. Seen it happen. Guy riding his bike hit a hole that was cut out for utility. He tried to sue everyone involved.

J.C. said...

It makes sense but you first have to understand how to do the job. There are many factors involved most don't know what they are and it's not up to the SHA, contractor or engineer to send a memo out just call and ask if you are that concerned about how to pave a road or why a bridge would need to be maintained jezz they did it once why would they ever have to do it again LOL

Anonymous said...

More profit

Anonymous said...

10:54, What does the Mayor and Council have to do with this? This is in WEST OC and a state project.

Anonymous said...

This area isn't concrete.

Anonymous said...

They do it just to make you wonder why.

Anonymous said...

The underlying road bed is concrete.

Anonymous said...

In short, the answer to your question is as follows, IT IS TO WASTE AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN!!!!

They did this to whitesville Road, They came in and paved most of that road, Then not even 12 hours later, came back in, saw cut the road to put in and replace a storm pipe, then patched it, and of course since all patch strips are half assed, it now sags and causes a depression in the road where the pipe was installed, and it messed up the pavement...

This is beyond retarded stupid, so it has to be the clear case of just trying to waste as much money as they can...

Anonymous said...

America sucks at building roads

Too much graft / theft
Country is gone to hell

Anonymous said...

Most of rt 50 underneath is concrete, that is what it was originally built with.

Anonymous said...

My guess would be they have to prove that a less costly "fix" did not show substantial improvement and safety before they can request the large amount of funding available to do the entire road. It cost X amount of money to do that but is a well return if their grant funding request is accepted. Just a thought. Sounds like someone in that office could teach the City of Salisbury a few things...

Anonymous said...

It’s those Einstein engineers not the contractor.

Anonymous said...

Remember that time when all we worried about was road repaving.

Anonymous said...

@ March 18, 2020 at 9:49 AM. Apparently you cannot read. First- they ground them down, Second- they dug them up and repaved them, Third, they are grounding up the entire road now and repaving that. Why grind them up and then come back and dig it up and pave them and then come back a third time to pave the entire road. All they had to do was grind up the entire road and pave it.

Anonymous said...

I smell kick back. This needs to be looked into.