et weather equals pothole problems
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1979
Page 13
By PAUL C. BARTON
Special to the Battalion
America’s road system is becom-
ingsbadly blemished. Cracks and
potholes are multiplying rapidly,
causing once-smooth streets and
highways to resemble obstacle
courses for motorists who swerve
and sway in order to keep from
King the front end of their cars
out of alignment.
All across the country, bad winter
weather has combined with a short
age of funds to restrict road mainte
nance efforts. The result is a growing
backlog of repair work that is causing
headaches for transportation offi
cials.
“It’s a situation everybody is facing
— state and local governments all
: 7-”—r—i—n—
'olitics, ping pong, protests
predominate in Pyongyang
I United Press International
■fONGYANG, North Korea —
Table tennis, the game that spawned
“Ping-Pong diplomacy” between
China and the West eight years ago,
ggs become a political battleground.
The 35th World Table Tennis
championships opened in this North
Korean capital April 25. But when
the 71 banners were paraded around
the impressive 20,000 capacity
^Bum, four had no players behind
them, and South Korean and Israel
did not even rate a showing.
The host country refused South
Korea s entry, claiming the Interna
tiona! Table Tennis Federation had
agreed to a unified Korean team. Is
rael was rejected on security
groun
Vjetnam also failed to show, hav
ing sent word from Hanoi that it
would not take part in these biennial
championships because of “Chinese
^Kssion.”
The ITTF upheld North Korea’s
decision to exclude South Korea and
Israel although the federation presi
dent Roy Evans in his opening ad
dress termed it “regrettable.”
Seven European countries to
gether with the United States signed
alett er of protest Wednesday night,
httt none threatened to withdraw.
Taiwan’s exclusion from the 1978
Montreal Olympics highlighted the
wayisporthas succumbed to politics,
and table tennis is no exception.
“We try to keep politics out, but
there is nothing we can do when the
decision is made one week before the
championships begin,” Evans com-
mentedr “We believe it is in the best
interest of the sport to hold the
championships, although it is hard
on those countries which are
excluded. ”
over the country,” says John Berard
of the federal Road Information Pro
gram.
Figures released by the Depart
ment of Transportation show that it
would take $21.8 billion a year
through 1990 to keep American
highways at the same level of quality
that existed in 1975. That’s twice the
amount spent in 1978.
Further, Berard says that between
November and April the number of
potholes in roads nationwide in
creased by an estimated 93 million.
Approximately 354 are forming
every minute.
Opinions differ on the quality of
the roads in this area. Bob Gallaway,
head of the highway materials divi
sion at the Texas Transportation In
stitute, calls them “not very good.”
Gerald Lambert, head of transpor
tation for the Bryan School District,
says the roads “shake our buses to
pieces.” He mentions that window
units, starter, motors and battery
boxes have been known to fall out of
buses at times.
On the other hand, John Hudson,
president of of Traffic Engineers,
Inc., a Houston consulting firm, says
the roads in this area are better than
the ones in most Texas counties.
Brazos County road authorities,
along with those in Bryan and Col
lege Station admit they are falling
behind in the race to keep things in
good shape.
“Weather is hurting us badly,”
says Jack Cornish, director of public
works in Bryan.
Bryan City Engineer Holland
Winder says the roads the last three
winters have been unusually moist.
Consequently, repair crews have
been unable to fill potholes as soon as
they appear. That delay adds to the
problem.
“A pothole is like a cancer,” says
George Ford, director of public
works for College Station. “If you
don’t treat it it’s going to keep grow
ing.”
Not only does the weather inhibit
repair work, moisture itself is the
major cause of potholes. When water
enters a crack in the road it soon
drips down into the subbase. Once
there, it doesn’t dry — even when
the sun comes out. Instead, it causes
deterioration that combines with the
bouncing of traffic on the pavement
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to create a pothole. Winder says,
however, “We don’t have potholes at
all compared to what they have in the
northern part of the country.”
Traffic volume is another major
cause of road decay. In 1978 Ameri
cans drove more than 1.5 trillion
miles. The total has been increasing
at an estimated rate of 4.5 percent a
year.
Berard says, “Nine times out of 10
you’ll find local or county roads built
for traffic conditions that existed be
fore World War II.”
Because of that, communities
enjoying rapid population growth
often have maintenance problems.
“That will hurt you worse than
anything,” Cornish says of Brazos
County’s rapid growth. The popula
tion grew 60 percent between 1970-
1976.
Adds Gallaway, “I doubt if any
body anticipated the growth in traffic
we’ve had in the last 25 years.”
Something else hurting local gov
ernments is a shortage of road con
struction and maintenance funds.
“The funds that you have for oper
ation today are being eaten by infla
tionary rises that are far greater than
taxation has risen,” says County
Commissioner Walter Wilcox. “You
can’t help but agree that the state of
the roads is getting worse and
worse.”
He adds: “The general public has
probably seen the best era of roads in
this country. Unless something dras
tic happens, there is not going to be
enough money in the future to ex
pand and maintain roads as we have
in the past.”
Just how expensive has road
last 10 years.
Although he says funding is not a
problem for College Station right
now, Ford, too, is apprehensive
about the future. “I don’t think the
era of good roads is gone, but the
thing that is going to affect us in the
future is the energy crunch,” he
says.
• In addition to road deterioration,
the county government is also facing
problems with several bridges in the
area.
There have been a number of
bridge failures in the last year caused
by oil trucks going over weak bridges
near Kurten, an oil drilling area.
Moreover, Hudson’s firm did a
study of county roads and features
related to traffic safety and found
several bridges with structural de
ficiencies.
In its report to the county pres
ented in September, the firm rec
ommended that a bridge replace
ment program be started. It also
warned that recent bridge failures
would only be the beginning if there
was not continuous inspection for
bridge damage done by trucks with
large loads.
Wilcox says each commissioner is
keeping watch on the bridges in his
precinct and that money for a large
scale bridge replacement program is
not available now.
It soon might be, however. Under
a new program, the Texas State De
partment of Highways and Public
Transportation will inventory, in
spect and appraise bridges on all
public roads, not just state highways.
In addition, a certain percentage of
federal highway funds regularly
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maintenance become? Berard says earmarked for bridge replacement or
the cost of building and maintaining repair will now be available for fixing
roads has more than doubled in the local bridges.
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