Animated Suspension

[sinclairmcevoy]

Can anyone here tell me why, in the name of all common sense, (which seems to be quite uncommon) manhole covers, sewer access panels etc. are placed in such a way that they have to be run over, shortening the life of your vehicle's suspension, or veered around causing me to appear to be an impaired driver? It really pisses me off, particularly with new road construction. Is this a deliberate attempt to curb speeding vehicles or just an oversight? Is there a city engineer here who can shed some light on this?
Wouldn't it make sense to place it in the middle of the lane?

[DavidS]

Once you put something in the middle of the lane, the next thing might have to go somewere else. Like it or not, roadways are awfully convenient places to put underground stuff; besides drive-up access for service vehicles, installations and more aggressive repairs require only roadway repairs rather than building and landscape restoration.

Can you tell us why driving over a manhole cover trashes your vehicle's suspension or gains you MADD scrutiny? Sure, you get a nasty bump if the hole is open or the road is paved to put it below grade (e.g. a repaving operation that raises the grade around the manhole), but that's just sloppy installation or paving. Bad road construction is bad road construction, manholes or not.

[MortFurd]

Can anyone here tell me why, in the name of all common sense, (which seems to be quite uncommon) manhole covers, sewer access panels etc. are placed in such a way that they have to be run over, shortening the life of your vehicle's suspension, or veered around causing me to appear to be an impaired driver? It really pisses me off, particularly with new road construction. Is this a deliberate attempt to curb speeding vehicles or just an oversight? Is there a city engineer here who can shed some light on this?
Wouldn't it make sense to place it in the middle of the lane?
They go where the sewer pipes are. If the pipe doesn't run down the center of the lane, tough.

Sewer pipe also comes in standard lengths. If you have to connect a new pipe to an existing one, your new pipe will have to be laid a certain distance from the old one in order to connect properly. If that distance doesn't get you in the middle of the road, tough.

Sewer pipe doesn't do curves well, either. If the road curves, the pipe can't follow exactly.

What DavidS said. Properly installed manholes shouldn't cause enough bump to bother the suspension on your car.

[sinclairmcevoy]

Okay. Thanks for that. I travel on a high traffic road way daily. I suppose that the asphalt being softer than the pipes tend to settle faster resulting in raised covers. Just wondering.....

[strathmeyer]

I live in Pittsburgh, #1 for potholes, and have no clue what these knuckleheads are dodging. People who dodge manhole covers are what makes me feel like is safe for me to drive while intoxicated.