They built what out of wood?

[Kristofor]

A road, or at least a short stretch of road. In Minnesota. And they thought it would last 50 years, and not be a slippery deathtrap?

"At the road's opening, the project manager said the 3-inch-thick oak planks should last 50 years, and for the first few years, the boards were relatively quiet. If only they hadn't moved or warped."

Now, shockingly, after 6 years the road has been closed while they figure out what to do... Oh, and yes federal transportation funds were used for this project, so thanks for all the contributions guys!

You can read more and shake your head at: http://www.startribune.com/local/564...iaMDCinchO7DUs

[Bill in Buena Park]

Makes one wonder about the shape all that oak is in, and if it can be reclaimed...

[Mr__Bill]

A road, or at least a short stretch of road. In Minnesota. And they thought it would last 50 years, and not be a slippery deathtrap?

Oh No, that's not a Minnesota issue, it's a Minneapolis fiasco. As all folk who live in Minnesota and not Hennepin County know, those folk in the Twin Cities just aren't real Minnesotans. A real Minnesotan knows that you put the wood IN the road, several feet down, to hold it together. Not on top where you would fall on your ass if you tried to walk on it. Kind of funny though, did anyone slip in to the river?


Bill, formerly of Minnesota.

[LCHIEN]

In the Texas oil industry, it was common a few years ago for exploratory drilling rigs to be placed in the middle of a land tract that might be 1 or 2 miles or more from local roads. They often built board roads to last the few months that the rig would be there. The rig would be moved in in pieces and assembled as well as all the supporting heavy equipment and workers and trailers for on-site personnel. There would be alrge 100x 100-foot pad for the rig and the trailers to sit upon and visitors to park. Personnel would change shifts at least twice daily, there were a lot of equipment servicing and a lot of consumables were used -pipe, mud, bits, diesel fuel, even water supplies. The board roads could be picked up after the well was completed and replaced by permanent shell or caliche (clay) or gravel roads if the well was a producer and needed to be serviced. The board roads were often rented, and looked like very heavy duty and long pallets although the tops were usually two layers at cross angles. You had to drive slowly and they were VERY slippery and often submerged in mud when it rained. Slow was a good word, I heard stories of boards breaking and poking up through the floorboards.
I used to love the sound of a car driving on those when i was a kid.

[cabinetman]

Wood planks were a very common surface for short distances, like open and covered bridges, and private property access. It may get slippery when wet, but it's still a popular surface in use for boardwalks.
.

[Stytooner]

Wood is used in roads all the time. Even long stretches. I mean long long stretches. The are just held down by two heavy Iron rails. They don't call them rail roads for nothing.

[pierhogunn]

oak planks for road ways? That's change I can believe in...

[dkerfoot]

In fairness, it is a very cool, historic section of town and they were trying to add an authentic feel - much like cobble-stone streets - kind of like Old Montreal. Plank roads were very, very common back when Minnesota was still "The Great Northwest."

This may be an inventive and therefore newsworthy failure, but I've seen lots of roads that are in need of replacement after 6 years.

[HarmsWay]

We have some old alleys in downtown Victoria that have the look of cobblestone but are wood with the end grain up. I have no idea how old they are - could be 20-100 years.

[Kristofor]

In fairness, it is a very cool, historic section of town and they were trying to add an authentic feel - much like cobble-stone streets - kind of like Old Montreal. Plank roads were very, very common back when Minnesota was still "The Great Northwest."

Yep, I get that. When Minneapolis, Hinkley, Stillwater, Marine on the Saint Croix, etc. were home to massive sawmills processing millions of boardfeet per year, and traffic never moved faster than 10MPH with the alternative beeing dirt/mud I even see even more reason for choosing that approach.

I'm just not very sentimental I guess. If this was a historic road that lasted for 100 years and needed replacing, okay maybe do the same thing again for "historical flavor". But when built from scratch I'll take easy snow removal, safety, quiet, longevity, and cost effectiveness first.

[AZ Tom]

In the early 1900's a wood plank road was built west of Yuma, AZ through the sand dunes, on the way to San Diego. This is not my web site, but if you are interested, http://personal.riverusers.com/~fw/g.../planktext.htm

I do recall going out on the "Yuma Dunes" west of Yuma about 1980 and short pieces of the plank road were still visible. I have not been back since. Also, this is the set of dunes used to film Return of the Jedi.

[ironhat]

I grew up in Johnstown, PA, home of multi famous floods. During it's big growth eras the streets were paved with brick and boy were they tough. As the years went by people wanted the washboard-like streets to be covered with macadam and so it was. After the 1977 flood it was interesting to see large sheets of macadam lifted from the bricks and standing against buildings and telephone poles. The bricks were, for the most part, still on the ground. I worked on the railroad at the time and saw a lot that I'll never forget which cannot be captured in a photo.

[BobSch]

If they really want an authentic feel, pull up the cobblestones from 5 and 6 Aves N (PLEASE!!) and use those.