AutoZone Pricing Shenanigans

[brianl703]

Any reason why this is? Scuffing against the curb is all I can think of.

At least in Virginia, the part of the road closest to the ditch deteriorates the quickest, because most 2-lane roads in the state have no shoulders and drainage ditches within a foot of the pavement. And the constant wetness seems to cause the pavement to give up quickly. I've seen where they'll put new asphalt down in a strip 4 feet wide on each edge of the pavement, because that's all deteriorated and the middle of the road is fine.

Apparently, continually repaving and fixing potholes is cheaper than fixing the drainage.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

At least in Virginia, the part of the road closest to the ditch deteriorates the quickest, because most 2-lane roads in the state have no shoulders and drainage ditches within a foot of the pavement. And the constant wetness seems to cause the pavement to give up quickly. I've seen where they'll put new asphalt down in a strip 4 feet wide on each edge of the pavement, because that's all deteriorated and the middle of the road is fine.

Apparently, continually repaving and fixing potholes is cheaper than fixing the drainage.

Most 2–lane roads in Virginia and elsewhere in rural areas in this part of the country are old enough that they were originally one-track dirt roads. That's why the drainage is the way it is.

The paved road I lived on in a rural area of Virginia when I first started on BITOG was once part of the main road connecting the county seats Courtland and Emporia over 100 years ago. It appeared on US government topo maps from around 1920. But until the 1960s it had still been a dirt road. (A short part of the road was bypassed in the late 1960s to cut out two railroad crossings, and to this day that old part is unpaved.) It's still pretty narrow, with ditches near the pavement as you describe.

 

[brianl703]

Most 2–lane roads in Virginia and elsewhere in rural areas in this part of the country are old enough that they were originally one-track dirt roads. That's why the drainage is the way it is.

Governor Byrd got 'em paved (got elected on this promise and that's how VDOT, previously VDHT ended up taking over maintenance for almost all the roads in the state) and that's pretty much where the improvements stopped. From what I've seen, some other states took the opportunity to correct the drainage and the vertical/horizontal alignment when the roads got paved.