BajaNomad

Potholes!

Mori - 2-5-2024 at 10:17 PM

Drove down from Calexico East to San Felipe then highway5 to join highway1 and on down to La Paz. A great drive with good roads and mostly sensible drivers but the pothole situation between Chapala and Villa Jesus Maria is terrible! Some of them so deep that they could rip the wheels right off your car! They're doing some good highway work south of Guerrero Negro in BCS but I hope that puts some pressure on BCN to catch up and fix the potholes or better yet just resurface the whole highway.

larryC - 2-6-2024 at 08:49 AM

There is an old saying and it goes something like "poop in one hand and hope in the other and see which one fills up first" that's my guesstimate for how much pressure BCN will to fix the pot holes. But rest assured they will get fixed and then new ones will magically appear. I guess I'm a synic.

watizname - 2-7-2024 at 07:25 AM

Mori--at any given time there will be at least one section of the highway, north or south, with a bad pothole situation. It has been that way forever, and will probably be that way forever more. You can never drop your guard on the roads of Baja. It's just part of the adventure. :)

AKgringo - 2-7-2024 at 10:29 AM

The asphalt they use is not the problem. It is the crappy fill material that they build the road base with.

The other problem is that since they are building roads in a desert, they don't give a lot of thought to drainage. With the type of storms we are seeing right now, it is not just run-off, but ground water coming up through the base material where it is close to bedrock.

An eighteen-wheeler passing over a wet spot will jiggle that miserable base material like it was cornstarch in a bowl!

RFClark - 2-7-2024 at 11:37 AM

AK,

That part of the road has always been a problem. Thanks for the warning. It wasn’t that bad a few months ago.

Could not have said it better!!

thebajarunner - 2-7-2024 at 04:56 PM

Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
The asphalt they use is not the problem. It is the crappy fill material that they build the road base with.

The other problem is that since they are building roads in a desert, they don't give a lot of thought to drainage. With the type of storms we are seeing right now, it is not just run-off, but ground water coming up through the base material where it is close to bedrock.

An eighteen-wheeler passing over a wet spot will jiggle that miserable base material like it was cornstarch in a bowl!


I have commented numerous times on this very topic, totally in sync with your comments.
Not only is the quality of the base totally suspect, but the specs on the base and a/c on top are far short of standards
My 40 years of developing subdivision lots gave me a close up view of the necessary specs.
Even in a subdivision with minimal heavy traffic we would probably double what they spec out for Mex 1 and 5.
Couple that with some rain and indeed it is just a jiggling jelly bowl under that very thin layer of a/c. (That stands for asphaltic concrete, not air conditioning)

And clearly, a "re-pave" is just a nice bandaid on a serious wound.

RFClark - 2-7-2024 at 09:37 PM

2” of cold mixed oil and gravel on top of compacted dirt if you’re lucky. That section has been “repaved” several times in the last 8 or so years. The batch plant is still East of the 1/5 junction so perhaps they are planning to repave it again,

Mori - 2-8-2024 at 06:25 AM

Thanks for your comments guys. Because the base is so poor they seem to want to pave a thick layer of asphalt which actually makes the problem worse because once a pothole forms the depth is like a bunker on a Scottish golf course. Hook a wheel in there and you can cause some real damage!

pacificobob - 2-9-2024 at 04:12 PM

I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.

stillnbaja - 2-9-2024 at 07:10 PM

Quote: Originally posted by pacificobob  
I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.



yet everyone yearns for the charm of "old baja":lol:

Don't need no stinking asphalt!

AKgringo - 2-9-2024 at 07:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by stillnbaja  
Quote: Originally posted by pacificobob  
I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.



yet everyone yearns for the charm of "old baja":lol:



I preferred driving down hwy 5 before it was paved all the way!

Marc - 2-29-2024 at 10:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
Quote: Originally posted by stillnbaja  
Quote: Originally posted by pacificobob  
I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.



yet everyone yearns for the charm of "old baja":lol:



I preferred driving down hwy 5 before it was paved all the way!

THAT ROAD! What memories!

David K - 2-29-2024 at 10:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Marc  
Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
Quote: Originally posted by stillnbaja  
Quote: Originally posted by pacificobob  
I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.



yet everyone yearns for the charm of "old baja":lol:



I preferred driving down hwy 5 before it was paved all the way!

THAT ROAD! What memories!


In 1974, south of Puertecitos:





Next year, 1975:





My final drive on the original Gonzaga Bay Road, prior to the new grading of 1986-7, was in 1979, southbound:


This is the same grade (I believe) as in my 1974 photo, northbound.

Marc - 2-29-2024 at 11:31 AM

Bad roads bring good people!

stillnbaja - 2-29-2024 at 11:54 AM

and one guy in charge of maintaining that road.....

Groundwater, it's not just a Baja problem.

AKgringo - 2-29-2024 at 01:13 PM

About a mile from where I am right now, Nevada County has repaired a section of a well used road that potholes every few years. Right now there is water coming up through the alligator cracks that have formed since the last repair!

Since it is a recurring problem, I can't imagine why it didn't occur to them to install a French drain to give the spring an outlet other than cracks in the pavement.

David K - 2-29-2024 at 01:50 PM

Never saw the 'one guy', but his wheel barrel with a donation sign was seen by us (in the 60s, south of the big grades)... There is a photo of it in Cliff Cross's 1970 guide.

Not just a guy, but a village....

AKgringo - 2-29-2024 at 02:15 PM

I took the road headed east from La Puisima after the 2014 Baja 1k. I believe that SCORE paid the locals to smooth out the washboard on the east side of the grade out to where the course turned south.

There was a good size group of men spread over a couple of miles with rakes, and shovels smoothing out the road. They were supported by women and children with lunches, shade and water stations, and everyone was smiling!

thebajarunner - 2-29-2024 at 04:04 PM

I saw "That Guy" several times back in 1972, pre-running the 500 loop up and over the "Sisters"

Each time we saw him he was scampering up from where he had been sitting in the shade, adjusting his hat and grabbing his shovel.
Over several trips there was absolutely no discernable progress on fixing the street, just a rather creative "hustle" if I must say so.

freediverbrian - 2-29-2024 at 05:05 PM

After the hurricane couple of years ago that washed out many sections of hwy 5, you were able to see the cross sections of the road. With the bed of large rocks followed by smaller rocks and sand with 3" of asphalt. And this is the new road built only five years ago. Not good