For anybody who lives south of Pittsburgh, no doubt you’re getting first hand experience with the Superpave project. Here’s an entry from last April that talked a little bit about the project… sad that it still has some relevance today:
I’m absolutely convinced that PennDOT is out to lunch. Come on… you’ve driven past enough road construction to know they are all the time.
Superpave is the revolutionary advancement in asphalt technology which would lengthen road life to 15 years or longer, provide a smoother driving experience, regenerate your tires, reduce allegery symptoms, cut .2 seconds from your 40 yard dash, clone humans, and keep your Mr. Pibb from going flat.
Truly one of the most oversold inventions of civic engineers (or is it mixologists?), they all but guaranteed these roads would survive nuclear war and temperatures approaching absolute zero. PennDOT is no stranger to innovation in road construction. They’ve recently moved from drawing designs in the ground and using bottlecaps to outline project logistics to using Paintshop Pro. Timmy Jones, age 3, has served well in his capacity of Pittsburgh PennDOT operations. He may have trouble handling his toy box, but he can manage the shit out of highway reconstruction.
Unfortunately, the Post-Gazette let us know that Superpave could very well be failable. Before you start looting, hoarding, and profiteering because the end is nigh, take heart: it only affects areas south of the Fort Pitt tunnel on I-279. Of course, this adds to a near Job-like list of plights commuters from the South have experience the last few years. If a crevice opens up and starts swallowing cars on Greentree hill, I would not be surprised.
I love the quote “It’s not a complete repaving job.” Ray, did you say that with a straight face? Picture a doctor saying, “Look, you’re 20… we have to do a triple bi-pass, but we’re not completely removing your heart.” That makes no sense… it’s still something that shouldn’t be happening.
Oh Superpave, we hardly knew ye. PennDOT obviously didn’t.
