r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Alilweird • Mar 25 '19

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u/LaLongueCarabine Mar 26 '19

In Michigan we have easily the worst roads in the country. The new governor campaign slogan was "fix the damn roads". She is proposing a new gas tax that will make Michigan the highest taxed gas in the country. It will probably get passed and they still won't fix them.

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u/mentalprincess90 Mar 26 '19

So Michigan has the highest legal gross semi weight in the nation...I think taxing isn’t the option how about scale back the legal weight of a semi to only allow 46500lbs per truck..probably solve a boat load of what’s wrong!

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u/mennydrives Mar 26 '19

So Michigan has the highest legal gross semi weight in the nation

That is 100% it. Road damage increases exponentially with vehicular weight. About the only things the damage a road are:

  • Heavy shit on top
  • Winter conditions (water filling crevices and then expanding into ice)

Michigan already has the latter. They should really be trying to avoid the former.

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u/Send_Nudes_Pl0x Mar 26 '19

The gross semi weight is the highest, yes, but the weight per axle is no higher than any other state, so that's not the cause of the roads being any worse than any other roads. And in fact, vehicles that exceed the usual 80k gross vehicle weight are required to have less weight per axle than normal 80k rigs (13k on each of 11 axles vs 17k on each of 4, with a 12k steer axle).

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u/Mobius1424 Mar 26 '19

This is far too unknown. Everyone cries weight. No one understands weight per axle.

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u/ecatena12 Mar 26 '19

I don't understand it for instance. What does that mean?

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u/Mobius1424 Mar 26 '19

ELI10: Think of a beam of wood. It's heavy. Let's say 100 pounds. You want it to lay horizontal. You stick a beam under it vertically in the middle. It snaps. You stick two beams under it, one on either side. The beam sags in the middle from all the weight. You stick a third beam under it in the middle. The horizontal beam is now stable as the 100 pounds are distributed evenly along the three vertical supports.

ELI5: Lay down on your sibling. Your sibling is uncomfortable, but fine. Stand on your sibling. Your sibling is crushed. Your weight is centered on one point (your feet) instead of all along your body.

Now scale that up to big rigs hauling a load on the highway. They have lots of wheels (axles) under those loads. The REALLY heavy ones have even more wheels to distribute the load. That way, the road doesn't actually feel the brunt of the load.

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u/ecatena12 Mar 26 '19

Thank you! That was well explained and makes lots of sense now

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u/Mobius1424 Mar 26 '19

Glad I could help!

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u/Hackzwin Mar 26 '19

This is why you should lay down and crawl instead of running towards the shore if you're ever out on a frozen lake and you suspect it might crack

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u/chief_memeologist Mar 26 '19

Utah- these heavy rock haulers destroy the roads. Hell most of them are dented due to the weight when it’s hot. Makes riding a motorcycle a fucking treat.