I went out on lime stone road going out to the west ,company working on the project bladed it smooth maybe MR. LACKEY and his bosses see how roads bladed by someone not under his control should look like.
I have to say that I wish all our country county roads were done like this.. My gosh!! it is awesome.. smooth and hard like a highway.. There are some wash board places kinda in a few places.. but that is so very tolerable... its a pleasure to drive Limestone now.. I hate hate hate all that big chunky rock that they put on the roads.. I wish the county would take some lessons here and do this to all the roads.. it would save on rock and save on tires and wear and tear on the trucks and cars that use the roads.
Quote from: oldfart on May 23, 2011, 04:04:19 PM
I went out on lime stone road going out to the west ,company working on the project bladed it smooth maybe MR. LACKEY and his bosses see how roads bladed by someone not under his control should look like.
I'm sure a virtually unlimited fuel & labor budget helps too. And I imagine the area residents are thrilled. Now, who are Mr. Lackey's bosses?
I don't see where unlimited fuel and labor have any argument in this situation. Doesn't take any more labor or any more cost to blade them smooth than it does for the unlimited trips back and forth to put that god awful huge rock on the road that tears up your tires.
When I drove the Elk county roads for 8 years, I only got a flat when they graded, put that huge rock down, and then wondered if the graders were properly trained? Seems to me grading a road, and Elk county has some great back roads....the persons doing the grading has to have some type of knowledge as to slope vs grade vs weak spots (which cause washboards... or warshboards by digging too deep) ??? I am not so sure money has to do with this, it is training.
Ready
and who is MR LACKEY??? that you so detest?
Quote from: Teresa on May 23, 2011, 05:17:46 PM
I don't see where unlimited fuel and labor have any argument in this situation. Doesn't take any more labor or any more cost to blade them smooth than it does for the unlimited trips back and forth to put that god awful huge rock on the road that tears up your tires.
Likely true, Teresa. So how do we get those bosses sufficiently engaged?
Show me a contractor that can maintain 705 miles of road for the county's road budget and I am sure they would have a job.
Limestone has already had the huge rock put on it. It just has had so much traffic it smashed to nothing.
QuoteLimestone has already had the huge rock pit on it. It just has had so much traffic it smashed to nothing.
Limestone is a soft rock, that would be like putting shale on the roads.....what's up with the application of rock??
first off Mr Lackeys bosses are the commissioners ,second limestone is not soft like shale ,and does not break up that easy companys come long distance to get rock from this area ,because it is harder than any where in state.I know this cause I did quality control testing for local quarry for several years
"Limestones are important rocks. They can be used for building materials but are not quite as strong as sandstone and are easily weathered by acidic conditions. Limestones are the primary source of lime for cements. Cement is considered one of the most important construction materials ever invented by man. Limestone can be crushed and used as road ballast. Significant quantities of limestone are quarried around the world for these purposes."
Not to dsipute your findings, but where did they quearry this rock...it will break down if not a pure limestone. It has holes as compared to a reef.
I then take it by your statement that Mr. Lakey is a Road and Bridge sort of guy for the cvounty?
Does he buy his own rock, or is he told what rock to buy within his budget, which I know in all counties is dwindling.(sp Wilma :police: ;D)
If you don't have the correct product, even with a minimal budget...things will go to hell in a hand basket...and we have small baskets nowadays!
Ready
dont want to get a debate about the quality of rock crushed here.Started this show differences how Lackey makes his men blade roads,
Quote from: PAT RIOT on May 23, 2011, 05:37:23 PM
Show me a contractor that can maintain 705 miles of road for the county's road budget and I am sure they would have a job.
Limestone has already had the huge rock put on it. It just has had so much traffic it smashed to nothing.
Well it would help the budget if your grader operators weren't off on a sideroad behind something sleeping.
Sorry, oldfart. I was typing this while you were posting
Some info on limestone in Elk County is available at a link in this post from 2008:
http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,5253.0.html
The Topeka and Ervine Creek limestone strata are what are now quarried at the Durbin/Harshman/Cornejo/? quarry east of the state highway department yard at Moline. I have checked before, but have forgotten what strata is quaried southeast of Severy.
oldfart will correct me if I'm wrong, but to me there are three main issues as to how well the rock performs once it's on the road:
1. The quality of the strata of rock being quarried. Not all limestone is created equal, literally. The Ervine Creek is one of the highest quality limestones in the entire state for road ballast and construction aggregate.
2. The type of mill used to produce the crushed stone. Hammer mills leave jagged edges to the rock, roller mills produce much smoother gravel that packs better and doesn't tear tires up as much. to the best of my knowledge, all the quarries currently operating in the area use hammer mills.
3. The size of the gravel and the amount of fines in the finished product.
When Martin Marietta operated the quarry south and east of the Rodeo Grounds at Moline, they produced a high quality road rock for the county. It was of a specific size, had a specific amount of fines in it, came out of a roller mill, and was exclusively Ervine Creek Limestone.
In my opinion, the gravel roads in the county have suffered ever since that specific product became unavailable.
I will not see how this conversation ends as I am going to bed :-\ however why, the question is why was it now unavaliable??
The county backroads want to know the truth, not some suposition.
Ready, tomorrow in the morning. :'(
and how do you know your grader guys are sleeping?
Yes years ago went to school for testing rock at K State AT Salina state road engineers. said rock in Elk co was best in state for concrete and asphalt. it has low absorption rates so it won't suck up oil when they make it. Hammer mills do make rock jagged ,cone crusher do the best as for size of rock for who know how long inch and half rock was what was used up to few months ago went to two and half inch rock
if quarry's has bad screens some time lot bigger.
Quote from: readyaimduck on May 23, 2011, 07:14:52 PM
and how do you know your grader guys are sleeping?
Cause i've scared the sh** out of one when i stopped to ask him if he was ok. Woke him up out of a sound sleep. Looked like he was dead or something sitting up there with his head rolled back
Well, that explains alot!
I was told they are putting that big rock on to start a base. Just what heard and told. Oh, I ruined a tire not over a month ago. Was out of town at the time, and let me tell you, Wal-mart tires are not that great at all. We usually get all our tires at Lannings. I have a van and it's pretty heavy and we put 6 ply tires on it to help with the flat tires and such, but of course they told me at Walmart that they didn't have any 6 ply for my van, so had to buy a 4 ply that cost as much as my 6 ply from Lannings. That sucks!!!
It really wouldn't matter if they are putting as a base or just a cover - if it isn't graded properly it will wash out, pit out and create havoc when it rains.
I am not a grader, and I have no business saying how your graders should preform, however I think this area of back roads have been lacking in upkeep for years. I would presume to guess that it's about budget and training, or lack thereof.
Ready
From what I understand, they graded it down taking off the top few inches of road and then they're pouring a fine ground rock layer down about 6" or so thick and then coming in and wetting it and then going over it with steam rollers and pressing it down. I guess they can't have that equipment bounced and banged around transporting it up there, but from what I hear, it'll cost quite a bit of money to do this.
Does anyone know what happened in the commissioners meeting today? Whats going on with our rock budget?