I have been to Flint, Im from Grand Rapids. I know your pain brotha.

I still have not heard back from anyone at the county or state level :/. I did however notice they went over the fresh patches with a steam roller or something and dramatically reduced the gap between original road and patch. Only problem is where they drove over the existing road with whatever equipment they used, they broke the original road up. Went to work this morning and the road was all cracked up and I heard the little bits of asphalt pinging off my tail and front fender.

Doesnt help that I ride with gumballs

 

The state engineering department finally got back with me and there is good news!!!

Letter as follows:

Dear Mr. Mendler,

Governor Perdue has asked that I respond to your recent inquiry concerning NC 194 in Watauga County between Valle Crucis and Banner Elk. I understand your concerns about the current roadway condition but I do have good news to tell you. NCDOT will open bids on September 21, 2010, for a project on NC 194 that begins at the Avery County line and ends at the intersection of Broadstone Road in Valle Crucis. The project will improve six (6) curve locations and the entire 5.41 miles will be repaired and resurfaced. Work on this projecet can begin as early as November 1, 2010, and the contract completion date is June 15, 2012. With this project on the horizon, our maintenance staff have tried their best to maintain the road the last couple of years without spending an exorbitant amount of funds. Last winter was extremely hard on all our roads in the mountain counties, and NC 194 was no exception.

As for the signs you mentioned, they were not installed by NCDOT but rather were installed illegally by another party. I have asked our sign erectors to remove these signs as soon as possible. Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention.

If you have any questions, or if I can be provide you with any additional information, please let me know. Also, you may contact our County Maintenance Engineer Kevin Whittington at 828-265-5378.

Regards,

 

it pays to follow up and it looks like I'll be grabbing me a pretty cool sign. haha

 

i go thru nc all the time, and it's not the recession. them there roads have always sucked.

 

yea sometimes they do but where i live in Watagua country and Avery county they normally put alot of time and effort into the roads because it is all scenic byway and our main source of income in tourism. I mean I live on the parkway, it just takes forever to get to work and most people dont pay attention, they are too busy taking pictures and I dont want to get run over, haha

 

I'm glad you finally got a response. It is amazing and disappointing how slow things move. End of the contract in June 2012? At least it is on their list to be fixed...

Not to thread hijack, but I recently started riding on I-69 in Flint and the concrete pavement looks like it is made of quilt squares from all the sections cut and replaced. It is a pretty bumpy ride, to the point where I feel I could lose the bike if I wasn't paying attention. Maybe I just need more experience on bumpy roads.

 

Haha. Elected official typo


What kinda sign you gonna get?

 

we have serious problems with bikes (bicycles/motorcycles) crossing the center line. I would say a biker is killed at least once a month in front of my house. It's all there fault. I love my bike but I keep it in the lines.. There is a guy riding a white KTM HyperMoto around my house that passed me the other day on a blind right hand corner. A few seconds later a denali passed going way to fast. he coulda died real quick..

So, sombody spent $1.000's to put signs up that say "CROSSING THE CENTER LINE IS FATAL". They are all gone now. They did it saturday, took every single sign down

 

Hmm. Sounds like one they should have considered keeping :/

 

i live in MI also and dam all the roads are so bad even like 75 in a car is very bad. and the way they just patch is so dumb somebody is really going to get hurt.