Road Condition Thread

This thread is for posting road conditions that people in the club should be aware of.

From Frank Soltiz:

"Some chip seal notifications. West Falls Rd. (that stretch from Mill Rd. to the Bridge) was recently done with a VERY deep coating of COARSE stone. Not fun. Mill Rd. has also been stoned, but it doesn't seem bad compared to West Falls Rd. Finer stone."

In Akron, Scotland, Cedar, Carney, and Koespel are all badly stoned. Possibly more.

In Alden, Peters Corners is for some inexplicable reason newly stoned.

Meahl had that really horrible coarse stone, similar to what these used on West Falls Rd.

How are the roads for the 34 mile mid (hill) ride on Sunday (picnic ride)?

The condition of the roads I usually ride on are negatively affecting my enjoyment of cycling. At least where i ride, highway departments are not even doing the most basic maintenence. I realize that they're never going to properly pave substandard roads, but they're not even trying to correct serious defects. And if they are not doing it now when are they going to do it? I think they are just going to ignore it, and by next year, the conditions will be exponentially worse. I just don't understand how a highway department can just do absolutely nothing. You can measure the depth of gravel at many intersections. I had a rider go down in it last night. What would it take to at least sweep an intersection. Gravel is a terrible hazzard to motorcycles and certainly bicycles. The intersection of Wohlheuter and Lower East Hill is unbelievably bad. The only safe access for a road bike on to Wohlheuter from Lower East is in the on-coming lane. Come on. At least start by sweeping the dang intersections.

Newton Rd has just received a fresh coat of stone from Hamburg to 277. One way in or out of the ridge.

Signs were up on a lot of the roads on today's Elma ride. It's going to be tough pretty soon.

Behm Road has been stoned. It isn't too bad. They used the smaller stone and it is pretty settled. The worst stone i ever saw was when they did Creek Road over in Wales.That was crazy how big the stones were. The stones they're using in Alden/Marilla are pretty bad (ie.Two Rod). You know, the proper technique for chip-sealing a road calls for a sweeping of the excess stone once it has settled. They never do that. The shoulders and intersections in my area are really bad. There is no shoulder to safely ride on because of the amassed loose stone. I hate this technique.

When I passed Back Creek on Tuesday, it looked like it had been stoned. I was going too fast to get a clear view though, but I swear I saw the orange signs up too.

Back creek is a great road to ride upon, but I haven't for 3 years. Stoning it might eventually be an improvement by late fall. It'll be trashed by spring again.

I rode Back Creek last night from Zimmerman to Hillcroft Dr. and it was fine except for the usual potholes.

Is it safe enough to bring my group down there, Peg? That section from Hillcroft to Mill could be a bit rougher. I rode for a short distance on newly stoned Porterville. All the holes and cracks are still there. Waste of money and time. SMH.

I've taken Backcreek multiple times from Mill to Zimmerman with no problems, I manage to navigate around the holes fine by myself. The holes appear much worse in the opposite direction though and a tight group, of course, would need to be more cautious.

I'll own the fact that I'm a whiny crybaby. We hear so much about how Buffalo (and WNY by extension) is becoming more bike friendly. But, how far does that go when the surfaces we use are in such bad shape? The chip sealing they've done in my area is awful. Even though it has settled to some extent, it's still a very unpleasant surface to ride upon. They came around recently to sweep the intersections of excess stone. They swept the stone back on to the road resulting in new piles of loose stone. Guess where that stone ended up in less than a day. Right back where it came from.

They don't repair a road before they chip/seal it. I rode with Charles Grammer on Back Creek Rd a couple of weeks ago. He said, "I liked it better when I could SEE the holes." It's just as bad as it ever was, it just looks more even. I want to climb up Boston-Colden from Boston , so Back Creek is on the route. I guess you could use Boston State Rd. as an alternate, but the riders don't seem to like that because of the traffic and poor shoulder.

I understand there are no funds available for this work and I don't want to start with the politics of that. But when I hear these glowing stories about how the area is improving for bicycling, I think it has to be tempered by problems with the infrastructure. The stories we hear are primarily centered around the city, which is absolutely improving. Cycling has becaome a real priority in road design. But, we're cyclists also. Road cycling over long distances on country roads is an excellent activity with manifold social benefits (ie: healthier citizens). Clearly, there's little attention paid to making our version of cycling "friendly".