Here’s a view of the rebuilt lane on Pablo Kisel a few yards south of Drainage Ditch Number One where the street expands to four lanes. The repair continues to Morrison Road, a distance close to half a mile and included a considerable stretch of replaced curbing as well.
This shows the materials removed from Pablo Kisel during the rebuild.
Here’s a stretch of buckling pavement in front of the Galaxy Bowling Center. Sooner or later, this section will have to be replaced. You can see a patch further north that was rebuilt last fall. The curb was removed and not replaced.
Here’s a closer view of the second patch.
This patch, on the north-bound lane next to Circuit City, is a patch on a patch on a patch. Cars swerve dangerously around this sometimes and, sooner or later, it will be the site of an accident or two, if it has not done so already.
This patch is on the southbound lane. The pavement buckles at least a foot here.
This buckle, in front of Tre Fratelli, is also about a foot high.
This is the beginning of a double-lane re-build that extends from Sunrise Boulevard to the Frontage, close to a quarter of a mile in length.
Here is a patch on the repair. One of the problems here is lack of maintenance. As an engineer friend explained to me, the state highway department is out tarring over cracks all the time and re-sealing blacktop to prevent water from entering all that carefully built sub-structure which essentially melts away when it’s wet.
And that’s the second part of the problem: lack of a maintenance plan. So all repairs are done on an ad hoc basis, the most expensive way to go about it.
Substandard construction and lack of maintenance, and lack of professional staff to plan and execute a plan to repair and maintain our city streets. There, in a nutshell is what’s happening to Pablo Kasel. Our citizens deserve better.
7 responses so far ↓
1 The Merovingian // Mar 21, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Let us not forget a lack of proper road bed materials. Caliche is not one of them. It is used in the Valley because it is cheap and easy to get to. Geologically speaking, it is just a couple of million years too “green”. It reminds me of kimberlite, the slag rock in which diamonds are formed in South Africa. It has been described as “the world’s most useless substance.”
I think that caliche comes in a close second.
“Of course I know. It is my business to know”-The Merovingian
2 Stan // Mar 21, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Santana Torres says they’ve bought limestone for Pablo Kisel to the tune of 1,070 tons at $15.70 a ton.
3 The Merovingian // Mar 21, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I have never seen a limestone bedded road buckle like that. Were I to guess, they did not bed the road with a proper apron in addition to skimping on the limestone, because it is far better than caliche. The cross-section of a proper road is a regular trapezoid, not a rectangle. If limestone was bought because it was “cost effective”, then it is a foregone conclusion that they did not use enough.
I have no commercial roadbuilding experience, I have, however, in the past had to build and repair roads on my grandfather’s ranch and learned enough to be dangerous.
M.
4 Stan // Mar 22, 2008 at 12:05 am
An engineer who was around at the time said deals were made to substitute something called EN1 as a soil stabilizer in the subgrade instead of lime. EN1 is approved for use with rebuilt streets, but not for new construction. Apparently the city engineer at the time, Mr. Hodge, thought it didn’t matter. The city was getting the street built for no money down, so good deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if caliche was used. If it’s not wet and you keep your distance, it doesn’t look too different from limestone.
I’m a retired English teacher and haven’t even built a ranch road.
5 The Merovingian // Mar 22, 2008 at 12:24 am
The average weight of stone is 544 tons/mile for 1 inch thick and 12 feet wide.
Source: Illinois Highway Department (first google good hit while searching)
I am SURE that a proper TexDOT citation can be found.
Proper bedding would be at least three inches and that street is a lot more than 12 feet wide.
Math-at-a-glance says : Not enough bedding (so does looking at the photos and driving that road)
I hope that helps
I have a buddy that is an expert in the field of construction material strength, if that would be of use to you, pop me an e-mail
revtallywhacker@yahoo.com
6 Back to the Streets of Brownsville // Apr 14, 2008 at 6:49 am
[...] to 8’ x 30’ in measurements.” But, if you observe the photos I made of the street (at http://www.nunnayerbizness.com/2008/03/20/a-tour-of-pablo-kisel/) you will see that the very first of these is a half-mile repair in the westernmost lane [...]
7 Another notices Pablo Kisel // May 5, 2008 at 10:18 am
[...] to see a letter in The Brownsville Herald today from Tony Lehmann, Jr. decrying the condition of Pablo Kisel Boulevard and the expense of maintaining it. We’ll fire off a missive letting folks at the Herald know [...]
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