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Mori
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Posts: 5
Registered: 1-6-2024
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Potholes!
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.
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larryC
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Location: BoLA
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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.
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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watizname
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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. 
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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AKgringo
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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!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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RFClark
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AK,
That part of the road has always been a problem. Thanks for the warning. It wasn’t that bad a few months ago.
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thebajarunner
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Could not have said it better!!
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.
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RFClark
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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,
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Mori
Newbie
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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!
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pacificobob
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I've heard more developed countries have better roads. Perhaps those locations would serve the needs of some better.
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stillnbaja
Senior Nomad
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yet everyone yearns for the charm of "old baja"
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AKgringo
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Don't need no stinking asphalt!
I preferred driving down hwy 5 before it was paved all the way!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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Marc
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THAT ROAD! What memories!
Exercise regularly. Eat sensibly. Die anyway.
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David K
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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.
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Marc
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Bad roads bring good people!
Exercise regularly. Eat sensibly. Die anyway.
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stillnbaja
Senior Nomad
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and one guy in charge of maintaining that road.....
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AKgringo
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Groundwater, it's not just a Baja problem.
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.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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David K
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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.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
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Not just a guy, but a village....
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!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
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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.
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freediverbrian
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Location: Papas Gonzaga Bay
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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
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