The Aftermath of the Whirligigs

[BogWalker]

They're trying to put them here in Rush County. Locals are fighting it fairly well.

Signing up for these windmills is bad mojo. One of the requirements of it is to tell them any possible construction you want to make on your property in the future, and you must get the windmill company's permission to build pretty much anything at all. I'll have no part of it.

 

[oldpink]

They're trying to put them here in Rush County. Locals are fighting it fairly well.

Signing up for these windmills is bad mojo. One of the requirements of it is to tell them any possible construction you want to make on your property in the future, and you must get the windmill company's permission to build pretty much anything at all. I'll have no part of it.

STAND YOUR GROUND.
The way these crony capitalists get their foot in the door is by cajoling and coercing landowners into allowing first one windmill, then the next.
The CC then just counts on a domino effect of adjacent landowners acquiescing when they start seeing the march of whirligigs and decide that they may as well get a cut of the (taxpayer) money.
A giant scam.

 

[Dead Duck]

Besides all the politics of what was on the trucks....

Was it a heavy load? - Yes
Did the other roads support the weight? - Yes
Was this particular road originally built by morons with substandard materials? - Yes

So what's the problem again?

 

[oldpink]

Besides all the politics of what was on the trucks....

Was it a heavy load? - Yes
Did the other roads support the weight? - Yes
Was this particular road originally built by morons with substandard materials? - Yes

So what's the problem again?

I couldn't see exactly what necessitated the roadbed be taken up completely, since the entire road was blocked off completely, but my understanding is that it's nowhere near as simple as you think.
They had to make a way for the loads to get across the fields, requiring some sort of temporary access roads, requiring the existing road be chopped up for that.
Also, while the roads they used to carry the loads stood up, including primarily the stretch of IN-1 south of US-36, the loads where they were putting up the windmills were kept in one place longer, plus they were so long and heavy that they needed to be backed up and brought forward in several passes in order to get to the temporary access roads, thus grinding up the surface.
Aside from that (much of it educated guesses and some of what others have told me), the company putting up the windmills had an agreement to redo the road.
The point is that the road is now nearly unusable, whereas immediately before the construction it was in good shape, albeit with some winter chuckholes that they filled in each spring, but nothing major, and not one anywhere near as huge as even the smallest of the ones in my photos here.
I know you're not from my area, so you don't have a yardstick by which to measure, but I drive that road every day.

 

[Shadow8088]

Welcome to every day in rural Pennsylvania. Land of the car swallowing potholes. Those pictures remind me of home.

 

[sbu sailor]

Welcome to every day in rural Pennsylvania. Land of the care swallowing potholes. Those pictures remind me of home.

We have two seasons in Indiana, winter and construction. I think the Orange barrel is now the State flower by default.

 

[D-Ric902]

We have two seasons in Indiana, winter and construction. I think the Orange barrel is now the State flower by default.

 

[sbu sailor]

Huh. Looks in better shape than the county road out to my place. I'd love to have a road that nice.

+1 ...if you think that's bad, head down to Jefferson county and tour those roads... and 65 has worse spots than that this season. I mean, really? You say the road is nearly unusable, and you drive it everyday... uh, ok. Why not use an alternate route?

 

[oldpink]

+1 ...if you think that's bad, head down to Jefferson county and tour those roads... 65 has worse spots than that this season. I mean, really?

Don't get me wrong here.
The roads that go out by my folks and brother's in Henry County (200 North and 500 East) and many others in the area are total lunar landscapes, and I don't hesitate to say that overall, they are definitely worse than IN-1 is now.
The exceptions are that there is nowhere in any of the roads in Henry County (and I spent most of my youth and adult life there) that even approaches the degree of degradation at the bridge on IN-1 that completely spans the road, or the part that I took a northbound and southbound shot of at the extreme north end of where they redid the road.
I know all too well what the problem with county roads is, not just here, but everywhere: a dearth of taxpayer density and lack of political clout
The point here is that part of the agreement for allowing these ridiculous pinwheels being put up with the county was that they would leave the road in better condition than it was when they started.
This is a perfect example of what people who buy into this whole "renewable energy" scam have to look forward to.
It's even worse than unpredictable, unsightly, inefficient energy production, but actually trashing our roads and expecting the farmers and other folks already not the wealthiest people in the world to just take it in the shorts.

 

[sbu sailor]

This is a perfect example of what people who buy into this whole "renewable energy" scam have to look forward to.It's even worse than unpredictable, unsightly, inefficient energy production, but actually trashing our roads and expecting the farmers and other folks already not the wealthiest people in the world to just take it in the shorts.

Now you're makin' sense to me!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I used to work for a testing company doing soil compaction testing with nuclear densometers. One thing that happens when big trucks rumble over an area is that the pavement will break down and then the subgrade soil starts to actually loose compaction when the truck tires roll over it when it's wet. The tires "squish" more and more water deeper and deeper into those spots. Then, even after it's dried up, the voids are still there and the next time it rains, it sucks up more water and gets squishy all over again.

When they fixed the road, they probably broke up the pavement, removed it, then they probably rolled a vibratory roller over and called it good. The roller rode over the squishy spots and compacted the surface, but left the squishy soft centers there. You can pave over them, but those pictures show what happens when you do.

Kind of like when you paint over rotten wood or soft plaster, it looks good, for a little while.

 

[Dead Duck]

I used to work for a testing company doing soil compaction testing with nuclear densometers. One thing that happens when big trucks rumble over an area is that the pavement will break down and then the subgrade soil starts to actually loose compaction when the truck tires roll over it when it's wet. The tires "squish" more and more water deeper and deeper into those spots. Then, even after it's dried up, the voids are still there and the next time it rains, it sucks up more water and gets squishy all over again.

When they fixed the road, they probably broke up the pavement, removed it, then they probably rolled a vibratory roller over and called it good. The roller rode over the squishy spots and compacted the surface, but left the squishy soft centers there. You can pave over them, but those pictures show what happens when you do.

Reading this made me crave some Oreos. I'll be in the kitchen.

 

[Leadeye]

My county road looks like it goes to Aintry, which is fine by me as it scares off everybody except the locals.

 

[oldpink]

I used to work for a testing company doing soil compaction testing with nuclear densometers. One thing that happens when big trucks rumble over an area is that the pavement will break down and then the subgrade soil starts to actually loose compaction when the truck tires roll over it when it's wet. The tires "squish" more and more water deeper and deeper into those spots. Then, even after it's dried up, the voids are still there and the next time it rains, it sucks up more water and gets squishy all over again.

When they fixed the road, they probably broke up the pavement, removed it, then they probably rolled a vibratory roller over and called it good. The roller rode over the squishy spots and compacted the surface, but left the squishy soft centers there. You can pave over them, but those pictures show what happens when you do.

Kind of like when you paint over rotten wood or soft plaster, it looks good, for a little while.

A really good explanation, and one that seems entirely likely.
More rep for you.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

What old pink is leaving out is that this WAS the main road going to the landfill, and used by the overweight waste haulers for years.
I believe a large part of the problem dates back to an "expansion " project several years ago in which it looked to me like they simply excavated a few inches on the shoulder, added some stone for an ad hoc roadbed, and paved the strip, adding about two feet of width to better accommodate the semis bringing waste to the landfill. You can imagine how well that worked out. That said, I've never seen a state Hi way completely redone, and then closed within a year of being opened because of deterioration of the new pavement. Till now.

 

[oldpink]

What old pink is leaving out is that this WAS the main road going to the landfill, and used by the overweight waste haulers for years.
I believe a large part of the problem dates back to an "expansion " project several years ago in which it looked to me like they simply excavated a few inches on the shoulder, added some stone for an ad hoc roadbed, and paved the strip, adding about two feet of width to better accommodate the semis bringing waste to the landfill. You can imagine how well that worked out. That said, I've never seen a state Hi way completely redone, and then closed within a year of being opened because of deterioration of the new pavement. Till now.

So THAT explains that strip that ran along the shoulder before this whole project.
You know this area well, and you're very right about it being the main road for the Waste Management trucks going to the landfill (Pewee, btw).

 

[bwframe]

...It's even worse than unpredictable, unsightly, inefficient energy production...

Those monstrosities look novel the first time you see them, like those along the highway to NWI. I cannot imagine having to look at them every day. Sad to see this on the way up to my hometown.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

They now stretch from here to western Iowa, and, I presume, beyond.

 

[Thor]

Your tax dollars at work...or not.

Marshall County had the debate over these cyclopean pinwheels a couple of years ago. Most of the public was against, some farmers who wanted to sell their land were for. By the time the debate was over, the county considered an appropriate set back from neighbors, schools, churches, and what not they just said the zoning was getting silly and they probably couldn't find anyplace in the county to put them anyway so made commercial sites illegal.

Give me a nuke plant any day. The navy is making reactors now that don't need to be refueled during their lifetime...maybe some of that new technology would be great to use for commercial power. Heck, we're going to let the Iranians do it...

 

[Tactically Fat]

I used to work for a testing company doing soil compaction testing with nuclear densometers. One thing that happens when big trucks rumble over an area is that the pavement will break down and then the subgrade soil starts to actually loose compaction when the truck tires roll over it when it's wet. The tires "squish" more and more water deeper and deeper into those spots. Then, even after it's dried up, the voids are still there and the next time it rains, it sucks up more water and gets squishy all over again.

When they fixed the road, they probably broke up the pavement, removed it, then they probably rolled a vibratory roller over and called it good. The roller rode over the squishy spots and compacted the surface, but left the squishy soft centers there. You can pave over them, but those pictures show what happens when you do.

Kind of like when you paint over rotten wood or soft plaster, it looks good, for a little while.

Nuke gauge for the win!

I much preferred more mechanical means to measure soil density. DCP, Clegg Hammer (don't think it was ever formally adopted in IN), and the old standby: hollow stem augers and split spoon testing. Or could go super high tech and just use the CPT truck.

Anyhow, what you refer to is known as "pumping". And it's not so much pushing surface water into the areas (though that IS of concern) it's more about pulling the groundwater UP via the loading and unloading of the zones above the groundwater.

Water's good stuff. The adhesive and cohesive properties of the stuff coupled with the repetitive load/unload of the areas above really do serve to pull the water upward....like an old well pump.

Good stuff. Let's talk more geotech and sub-surface investigations!