With all the things that are going on, this is feeling like a double post kinda day. I’m trying to spread them out as much as possible, but sometimes there’s just something you need to get off your chest.
First order of business is the Auction. We’ve already had some great bids happening, but before things went to far we wanted to clear up some heat confusion and re-initialize. If you were part of that early bidding group, you should have gotten an email from me. If you haven’t yet bid, no worries! The auction should be ready to go again so get bidding!
cmubuggy.org/auction
In other news, the city of Pittsburgh has been going around filling those nasty potholes around the course. With the help of the sweepstakes committee, they are making sure that every important pothole is being addressed. While the fillings haven’t been the most perfect job ever done, they’re a hell-of-a-lot better than a giant hole in the ground.
These fillings will probably sag and crumble a bit as cars drive over them and Pittsburgh happens. Sweepers on Truck and Raceday should be doing a lot of extra work to mitigate any issues from these new bits of road. I’m sure many drivers (and mechanics) will be very thankful for these much needed repairs, but here’s hoping that they can figure out a plan to do it right before next year rolls around.
At this point most of the fixes have been made on Frew street which has some of the most egregious, though avoidable potholes. Later this week the city should be looking at Schenley drive and fixing some of the deeper issues there. While it’s not a permanent fix, it should mean that we will see some safer turns and races come Carnival.
If you haven’t yet registered to become a member, be sure to do that!
Raka says:
Holes in the road? Lets put black gravel in them! That’s a totally safe idea. I liked it better when organizations would just make repairs themselves under the radar.
ben says:
Teams have attempted that, but in recent years those attempts have been dug out or removed partly due to sloppy work but also due to the illegality of the practice.
Sigh says:
You do realize that the “black gravel” they patch the holes with is asphalt, right?
Raka says:
Yes I do. And you realize it doesn’t set well, and as cars, buggies, and pushers run across it, it often comes up. They ought to use warm mix asphalt, but the city is either too cheap or lazy. They used to use this stuff occasionally when I drove and it deteriorates very quickly.
Elmo Zoneball says:
Are they using cold patch????? That stuff comes up as fast as they can lay it down.
Shafeeq says:
The city closed its asphalt factory years ago, and their new asphalt vendor doesn’t find enough profit in producing hot-patch during the winter to be worth their while. So, “city is too cheap, it’s cold patch or nothing.”
There are companies that have self-contained hot-patch trucks, but those are apparently so fully booked they can’t even get one to fix problems on major highways.
Ian says:
If you need evidence that the city only does cold patch, go look at Mossfield St (runs along Allegheny Cemetary) it’s been repaired probably 3 or 4 times over the last few months, and it’s still basically not usable, except now there’s a ton of black gravel all over the place. It’s really a shame that cold patch is the only hope we have for races. If it’s still there come Friday, I guess we can have the “better than nothing?” debate then, but considering that it’s raining at the moment, I have my doubts. Fingers crossed, though.