Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Worldwide Motorcycle/Biker survey:

Motorcycle Survey: How good are the streets where you live for riding on?

I rated our roads as excellent. I'm surprised at the low number of tallies to this rating. For excellent I consider that the roads are not salted in the winter. The "sand" that is put on pretty much clears itself by the time that the good weather comes around. Water drainage is good. Pavement surface is generally smooth and repairs are done well. Fog lines mark the edges. For the most part, traffic control devices are well placed and functional. Speed limits are what you would expect in the USA . No, I don't work for the highway department. I've just experienced roads that are much worse during my lifetime.

307T wrote:I rated our roads as excellent. I'm surprised at the low number of tallies to this rating. For excellent I consider that the roads are not salted in the winter. The "sand" that is put on pretty much clears itself by the time that the good weather comes around. Water drainage is good. Pavement surface is generally smooth and repairs are done well. Fog lines mark the edges. For the most part, traffic control devices are well placed and functional. Speed limits are what you would expect in the USA . No, I don't work for the highway department. I've just experienced roads that are much worse during my lifetime.

What part of the USA?

Here in Calgary, our roads are hit hard by the hot/cold cycles, are frozen for months on end and then the dry heat of summer gets to them too. The city used to use only gravel, but now it's a mix of gravel and salt. Also the city of Calgary is experiencing exploding population growth rates, growing auto/truck/suv useage and with construction playing catch up with the roads it's not a pretty picture.

So, we don't have good roads IMO, just satisfactory to poor ones.

Mike

I live in Upstate NY. We have a lot of poor roads, but also a number of excellent ones.

The local streets in town tend to be satisfactory to poor, but the state routes and highways are usually very good.

We have a fair bit of winter damage here. Hopefully the road crews will be out shortly to make the needed repairs.

We've got excellent streets here in Phoenix. The main reason is that most of the streets and freeways are relatively new. Most of them didn't exist when I moved here 25 yrs. ago.

This is one thing that becomes very obvious when I ride to an older city like L.A. or San Francisco. I'm used to pavement that's smooth as glass and it's a major change for me (and my suspension) when I start travelling on 60 yr. old highways that get repeatedly jolted by earthquakes.

What flyn said, although I do find the roads in my area (north & west side of town) to be be craggier than those east and south. Not anything to complain about, though.

Now... if we were talking about roads in a holistic sense (i.e. not just the pavement, but everything on it as well), I'd have to rate Phoenix satisfactory to poor. The drivers here are generally cuh-raze-y.

Northern CA: Some roads are great, but dangerous. A different kind of dangerous than SoCal. Pot holes in lots of the smaller towns or country roads, but the main roads are the only reason why I could put "satisfactory".

totalmotorcycle wrote:
What part of the USA?

Mike

Northwest Oregon

i voted satisfactory. the roads are about as good as could be expected considering the winters in wisconsin tend to tear "poo poo" up. i'd like to see more attention paid to freeway on/off ramps. it seems nine out of ten are tore to "poo poo".