Seriously; where should a bikie retire?

"Johnny Sunset" writes:

Tim McNamara wrote:
... Asphalt is made in part from oil, which ain't cheap anymore,
and there are over 2 million miles of asphalt roads in the US.
According to Chevron's Web site, a barrel of oil yields about one
gallon of tar after refining into all the various products that can
be extracted from the oil....

Unless it is polymer modified, the asphalt cement used in most
countries [1] is sourced completely from crude oil (the portion that
is left over after the lighter fractions of crude oil have been
extracted).

Tar is made from coal, asphaltic cement from crude oil.

I'm afraid it is a distinction that is lost on me. The Chevron Web
site actually stated that one barrel of crude yields one gallon of
asphalt, but I rendered it as "tar" to avoid confusion with "asphalt"
as most people in the US think of it. Apparently I goofed up when I
did so.

"Tom Nakashima" wrote:

"Mike DeMicco" wrote
"Tom Nakashima" wrote:

The Bay Area is nice, but too expensive of an area to retire in. The
price
of homes here is outrageous as well as the price of gas and general cost
of
living (higher than most states). We bought our home in the 80's when
then
market was still affordable, so when I retire, I could either rent it, or
get a good price.

Also, while the climate is good and there's plenty of places to ride,
there's too much traffic and it's getting worse because of new
development.

Yes, agree Mike,
Traffic is terrible in the Bay Area.
I love riding the back roads early Sunday mornings, either people are at
church or sleeping in.

And the water views are really nice in the Bay Area, though it can be
windy.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

Tim McNamara wrote:

There are regional variations of course. In Arkansas, for example,
estimated construction costs for a new two lane rural road are $2.1
million per mile. In the mountains, $2.25 million per mile. In urban
areas, $2.45 million per mile. Of course, reconstructing an existing
roadway is much much cheaper- $800,000 per lane mile (so $1.6 million
per mile for a two lane road).

If the rural roads really cost that much, they certainly wouldn't have
them... they'd still be on dirt and/or gravel. I've no doubt that
governments suck that much money out of the economy to pay for state
and federal highways, but only because they are horrendously
inefficient.

OK, the roads I'm talking about are not as nice as a good highway, but
they are hard and fairly smooth... I think they are fine to use a road
bike on. They are better than many of the roads I frequent on Kauai.

And they simply don't cost anything like a million dollars a mile. The
county where I grew up has 750 sq miles and 23,000 people. At 2 miles
of road per square mile (1500 miles of roads) and if they cost a mere
million per mile, that comes to 1.5 billion! Guessing that a quarter of
the population is rural, that would be $260,000 per person for the
roads where they live.

My Dad has a 1/4 mile road going to his property that he built and
maintains himself. I asked him a couple of years ago what he thought
the cost to build a typical rural road would be these days, and he
estimated maybe $20,000 per mile. And logically, if they cost much more
than that they wouldn't (couldn't) exist.

Quoting Tim McNamara :
Asphalt is made in part from oil, which ain't cheap anymore, and there
are over 2 million miles of asphalt roads in the US. According to
Chevron's Web site, a barrel of oil yields about one gallon of tar
after refining into all the various products that can be extracted
from the oil.

Oil isn't cheap, but this leftover gunge is; there's more demand for the
other byproducts, so it's a matter of selling the gunge cheap or trying to
throw it away...
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!
Today is Second Mania, January.

Ron Ruff wrote:
Tim McNamara wrote:

There are regional variations of course. In Arkansas, for example,
estimated construction costs for a new two lane rural road are $2.1
million per mile. In the mountains, $2.25 million per mile. In urban
areas, $2.45 million per mile. Of course, reconstructing an existing
roadway is much much cheaper- $800,000 per lane mile (so $1.6 million
per mile for a two lane road).


My Dad has a 1/4 mile road going to his property that he built and
maintains himself. I asked him a couple of years ago what he thought
the cost to build a typical rural road would be these days, and he
estimated maybe $20,000 per mile. And logically, if they cost much more
than that they wouldn't (couldn't) exist.

When my dad built his driveway, about 10 years ago, the price he paid
would eat up that $20,000 per mile just for foundation and fill material
for a one-lane driveway. Add in land acquisition costs, engineering,
pavement, equipment (bulldozers, graders, pavers) and labor costs to
build a road from scratch; I don't know if you'd hit two million
dollars/mile, but I'd expect it to be way over $20,000. Throw in an
occasional culvert, bridge, ditching and so forth, and I'd guess the $2
million per mile is about right.

Pat

wrote:
as happy. About anywhere in eastern TN or western NC will get you into
mountainous territory.

Both states have quite a few paved back roads without much car traffic.
And few potholes due to the lack of freezing in the states.

Would that were the case! True, both states do a pertty good job with
major highways, but the mountain counties on both side of the state line
have a hard time with the back roads; too many roads, too much wear and
tear, and not enough money to repave. Tennessee is better than North
Carolina, IMO, but both have enough snow to have to plow the back roads,
and the potholes that result get pretty bad. NC mountains have some
"paved" roads that make pickup trucks look like bicycles riding the
cobblestones in France and Belgium. (Strangely enough, the roads in
Wake County around the state capital are some of the best I've ever seen
-- go figure!)

Pat

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:37:02 -0800, "G.T."
wrote:

I'll be joining the legions heading around and up Big T,
I'll probably avoid Hwy 2, though.

Greg

I live about 200 yards off of Big Tujunga Cyn.

Western Oregon. Portland was rated top city for riding bicycles.
Eugene, Oregon was rated top small citty for riding bicycles.
Corvallis, Oregon (small town with university) has highest rating in
the state for riding bicycles. Winters are cool and wet, but the rest
of the year is perfect. Summers typically have a low of 55 a high of 85
and little wind. Have an ocean, mountain ranges, valley, etc. In
Corvallis, 10% of intown trips are by bicycle.

More about cycling in SW VA:

http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/biking/wb/xp-index

This is probably the most comprehensive guide to cycling in the area.
Before I moved here, I used this site to find ride info.

Author Dan Casey works for the Roanoke Times, and is very active in
Roanoke's Blue Ridge Bicycle Club. (www.blueridgebicycleclub.com)

Matt O.