Tsaiko vs NCDOT: FIGHT!

[tsaiko]

On Tuesday, I'm driving home from the Community College just as the leading edge of Alberto is hitting. Or maybe that was the storms that hit us before Alberto? Whatever. It is raining buckets. I'm driving along towards the capital in my crappy blue car when the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation decides my life is obviously too boring.



Tsaiko: Lalalalala.
NCDOT: You don't really need those top four inches of pavement, do you?
Tsaiko: Huh?
Car: *WHUMP!*

There were no signs, no warnings. One minute I'm happily driving along on nice, smooth pavement. The next minute I'm driving on noisy, scalped pavement that looks like the worlds biggest weed-whacker got pissed at it. Since it was raining, and water likes to flow to the lowest point, I soon was driving into the mega-puddle from hell. Moses parting the Red Sea had nothing on my little blue car. And once you're four inches short than the lane beside you, changing lanes no longer becomes an option.

Tsaiko: HA! I will get into the center lane instead of the left lane.
NCDOT: Oh really? Why?
Tsaiko: To avoid the sudden drop where the top four inches of pavement is gone.
NCDOT: Heh. Heh. Heh.
Car: *WHUMP!*
Tsaiko: WHAT THE HELL?
NCDOT: Sucker.

Now instead of no warning signs for one lane of scalped pavement, they had no warning signs for two lanes of scalped pavement. Not only that, the scraped up the crosswalks and stopping lines at an intersection.

Tsaiko: WHERE ARE THE LINES?
NCDOT: What lines?
Tsaiko: What lines? The lines! THE LINES THAT TELL ME WHERE TO STOP.
NCDOT: I don't see any need for lines.
Tsaiko: THE LIGHT IS RED.
NCDOT: You might need to stop then. Hope you don't pull to far forward and get hit.
Tsaiko: ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!

I understand the need to repave a road. Really, I do. I even understand the need to do it at night so not to interfere with downtown traffic. I can even grasp how only working at night might necessitate leaving part unfinished till the next day. But the lack of signs warning you? That's just sadistic.


Also, we still do not have any AC. This is going to be a long, miserable night. -_-

Comments

[miome.livejournal.com]

It's always those last four inches that make the difference. ^___-

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

*sees icon and dies*

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

North Carolina: Where the state tree is the orange construction barrel.

[tygati.livejournal.com]

*dies* That reminds me of driving through Montana once. They had a sign... it said "Bump." >.> What they really meant to say was "End of Pavement." -.-;;

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA. Around here when you see a sign that says "Bump" or my personal favorite "Humps", it means they've put some stupid traffic slowing devise in like a speed bump or a speed hump.

Driving through a neighborhood and seeing a sign that says "Humps" just kills me every time.

[tygati.livejournal.com]

*snort* That's good... almost as good at the one deer sign on I-84 that someone put a red reflective sticker on his nose.... or the one about fifty miles later with a tiny piece of black electrical tape down near its crotch... >.>;;

[powercorrupts.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when they were fixing up a street near my doctor's office (and school, though I have another way to get there), there was about four inches missing off of it. Not only that, it was evident that they'd patched it up continuously, because what they'd cut it down to was the most pot-holed thing I'd ever seen. We have major problems with sinkholes here, so I can only assume that's what I was going over.

Does TXDOT not understand that some of us drive nice little two door cars that are economic, and cannot take roads like that? I mean, the SUVs and trucks are all "What's her problem, why is she going 10 miles an hour down those potholes?" =(

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

We have the occasional sinkhole here too, although its usually when a water main breaks or half of a major highway decides to slide down a cliff. Most of what we get is breaking from ice and 18-wheelers deciding that two-lane country roads are perfect for their big rigs. -_-

There's a city called Cary in NC (ie yuppie town). We always joke that the reason all the parking spaces in town are so big is that there's an ordinance saying that they have to be big enough for a SUV. What's sad is there actually is an ordinance saying you cannot park your perfectly working pick-up truck in your drive-way because it looks "trashy." It has to go into the garage.

Different states. Different reasons. Same number of morons.

[tygati.livejournal.com]

What's sad is there actually is an ordinance saying you cannot park your perfectly working pick-up truck in your drive-way because it looks "trashy."

o.o Wow. They'd have a revolt if they tried to do that in my home town. I'd estimate 60% of all vehicles are pick-ups, most of them looking like it's a miracle they're still operational. ^^;

[hoshi-ryo.livejournal.com]

Um...would it be rude to ask the general area of this wonderful bit of NCDOT idiocy? I'm hoping to go somewhere during my last few days of pre-job freedom, and would like to avoid it...

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

Not rude at all! This would be on Hwy 70 going into the Capital before it turns into Glenwood. I think it might be McDowell at the time, but I do know it's right after S. Saunders peels off of it.. I also know they are doing work on Hargett St. as well.

If you're lost, here (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=&city=raleigh&state=nc&zipcode=) is a downtown map courtesy of Mapquest. I hope that helps!