FinalIntern8888 t1_itlc929 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 2:27 PM

Just returned from Seattle and it's insane how good their infrastructure is compared to ours... no potholes, multiple buses every minute, beautiful and ubiquitous PBLs, light rails, monorails, etc... Seemed like barely anyone was driving a car there.

doglywolf t1_itlziev wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:03 PM

you cant really fairly compare roads from a place that gets no snow to one that does though . The salt and the chemicals put on the roads wreck the roads in snowy cities.

However its VERY bad in JC compared to even the rest of NJ. Like there should be a full time work crews where their ONLY job is to drive around and fill pot holes... It takes all of 10 minutes of work to fill on. They could do 100 a day and still be busy year round .

There is no excuse for basketball sized potholes existing for months after reporting them.

One of my neighbors used to get frustrated and go fill them himself . Shocked they didnt launch an investigation to find and give him a ticket.

jgweiss t1_itm40ku wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:32 PM

are you suggesting it doesnt snow in seattle?

doglywolf t1_itm48nn wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:33 PM

Not like it does here they get a few incher per year - we get a few feet per year - its a pretty big difference

cC2Panda t1_itmas6h wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:15 PM

The average low in Seattle in February is 37 degrees, in New Jersey it's an average high of 40 and low of 21, the constant melting then freezing of ice is what does most of the damage here. From what I can find Seattle gets 3.9 days of snow per year on average, NJ gets 12.2 days of snow on average, but again it's really the bounce between above and below freezing that is what does the damage.

So it's very significant that we literally have 3 entire months where the daily average high is above 32 and the low is below 32, where as Seattle has exactly 0 months where the average low goes below 32.

FinalIntern8888 t1_itm86rp wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:59 PM

Fair point. We should still be improving mass transit options here though -- more buses and routes, expand the PATH and light rail, make proper PBLs (the ones in Seattle have beautiful greenery in their barriers as opposed to our terribly ugly Jersey barriers).

doglywolf t1_itmd202 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:30 PM

its the corruption in the process and by companies . Even when NJ does a fair bid system , they do something like only certified companies can bid but then find ways to deny everyone but who they are friends with in the certification process.

Things that were done 30 years ago for 200 million now end up as 2 billion dollar project - it just doesn't match the inflation or cost increases .

From the cost of doing a mile of road work to mass transit and tunnels the price is completely off the charts form back room deals . That why nothing gets done.. It doesn't get done unless everyone and their mom that signs off on it gets a big piece . ive seen projects need "post project documentation and pictures" all of a sudden and then have to hire some senators sons company who only just came into existence to do nothing but go take completion pictures for a six figures.