101 between Palo Alto and San Jose, 85 between Cupertino and 101, etc have many potholes. There are even series of potholes between the lanes, and it's hard to switch lanes without hitting some. Given the tax dollars that we pay to CA, I would say the highways here are terrible.
That is because of the last year or two of monsoons; that’s my point. We had a drought for well over a decade, and we stopped having to worry about potholes as a result.
As moisture freezes in the road, it expands and then when it melts it shrinks, over time and through many cycles of this, it can crack and degrade the quality of roads.
Heavy vehicles like trucks cause tons of damage; an 18,000 lb truck causes about 5000x more damage than a 2000 lb Miata. It is not linear.
Obviously wealthier areas will have more money for repairing roads at a higher quality.
Rain can get into the foundation below the asphalt and weaken it, and cause potholes to form.
Intense sunlight is coupled with intense UV rays, which are invisible but extremely damaging to asphalt surfaces by speeding up the deterioration process. Ultraviolet rays break down your asphalt by weakening the bonds of the oils/components within it.
Now, the “fixing” process is getting spun up again, and that is taking some time. Presently, there are lots of potholes - agreed. That will not be the case eventually, and that will be specifically *because* of our tax dollars at work.
But that’s not what I mean by bad roads. The lanes are wide, they are rarely closed, HOV lanes abound, and the roads are generally very well-banked and curved. They’re not perfect, but they are far from the worst, imho.
Also, I drive those roads literally daily (I live in Cupertino). I have yet to pop a 21 in over two years of driving them with the Lucid. The potholes are avoidable. You just have to pay attention.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t want the roads better and fixed.
