Discussion
I hit a pot hole on the A1 a few weeks ago in my Toyota Corolla.
Did two wheels and a front wheel bearing. £1700 worth of damage. Still waiting on the second new wheel to come in stock.
As it’s a 60mph road and a dual carriageway I can’t get a good photo of the pothole. I decided to go on Google maps and found the same hole from 10 months ago on there. It’s even bigger now.
Hope I get my money back out of the highways agency.
Did two wheels and a front wheel bearing. £1700 worth of damage. Still waiting on the second new wheel to come in stock.
As it’s a 60mph road and a dual carriageway I can’t get a good photo of the pothole. I decided to go on Google maps and found the same hole from 10 months ago on there. It’s even bigger now.
Hope I get my money back out of the highways agency.
Travelled around the M25 and up the M1 and across to Peterborough yesterday in the Abarth with 2 passengers.
I dread to think what damage may have been done by the countless potholes that I couldn't swerve around as it was very busy and absolutely bucketing down. Whole sections were so rough that I thought that the car was going to shake to pieces and my rear passenger said that they were feeling sick.
It wasn't until the environs of Peterborough where the roads were nice again.
The A1M coming back down wasn't too bad but the M25 and parts of the M1 were making me think of selling the Abarth and replace it with a 4x4.
Feking ridiculous!
I dread to think what damage may have been done by the countless potholes that I couldn't swerve around as it was very busy and absolutely bucketing down. Whole sections were so rough that I thought that the car was going to shake to pieces and my rear passenger said that they were feeling sick.
It wasn't until the environs of Peterborough where the roads were nice again.
The A1M coming back down wasn't too bad but the M25 and parts of the M1 were making me think of selling the Abarth and replace it with a 4x4.
Feking ridiculous!
I've no idea how long ago my local council stopped regular road drain cleaning. The result is that after every shower, the bloody place looks like Venice. It's also almost impossible to miss puddles with your nearside wheels, many pedestrians get showered as a result. Such an event took place recently where many parents were walking children to school, it took a front page blast in the local newspaper to get the council to get off its arse, and clean the bloody drain. Subsequently, the last 2 years of road flooding there has disappeared. Doesn't it rain in other countries then? Rain causes road surface issues because 10 years of nonexistent maintenance makes them completely useless to resist rain showers. Bloody obvious to an idiot.
The problem when you taper off regular maintenance is the damage accumulates and it's *much* more expensive to fix later on. Highways and local authorities are being squeezed by other more urgent spending areas but then at some point the roads are going to become *the* urgent problem.
The roads are a symptom of a wider problem, in that local authorities are being squeezed heavily in other areas, such as private providers in the social care sector. Until things like that are sorted, roads for example can never be looked after properly unless taxes rise significantly.
The roads are a symptom of a wider problem, in that local authorities are being squeezed heavily in other areas, such as private providers in the social care sector. Until things like that are sorted, roads for example can never be looked after properly unless taxes rise significantly.
Forester1965 said:
The problem when you taper off regular maintenance is the damage accumulates and it's *much* more expensive to fix later on. Highways and local authorities are being squeezed by other more urgent spending areas but then at some point the roads are going to become *the* urgent problem.
The roads are a symptom of a wider problem, in that local authorities are being squeezed heavily in other areas, such as private providers in the social care sector. Until things like that are sorted, roads for example can never be looked after properly unless taxes rise significantly.
We pay enough already.The roads are a symptom of a wider problem, in that local authorities are being squeezed heavily in other areas, such as private providers in the social care sector. Until things like that are sorted, roads for example can never be looked after properly unless taxes rise significantly.
VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion. Grand total £45.5 billion. Road expenditure £11.8 billion
robinessex said:
We pay enough already.
VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
Of which £0 goes directly to roads. If you want roads spending to be a priority, you need to make elected representitives aware of this. Cut funding for NHS, schools, social care etc and you'll never be elected again. Cut funding for roads and people grumble. Roads will always be the easy target when finances are squeezed. VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
PaulD86 said:
robinessex said:
We pay enough already.
VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
Of which £0 goes directly to roads. If you want roads spending to be a priority, you need to make elected representitives aware of this. Cut funding for NHS, schools, social care etc and you'll never be elected again. Cut funding for roads and people grumble. Roads will always be the easy target when finances are squeezed. VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
robinessex said:
Just remind us how much illegal immigration is costing the country then. The cost of detaining and deporting people arriving in the UK in small boats under planned new legislation could hit £6bn over the next two years, internal government projections say.
Aye, if you have a government that come up with schemes to combat them which are so unfathomably stupid and expensive as to beggar belief then I'm sure that will be a problem. Especially as you can't send most back to France now... Quite what point you're trying to make is lost on me, however, as all I did was point out that there is no taxation which directly funds roads, but no need to try to explain as I'm really not bothered. They will only do something about it if it becomes a vote winner, but it's gone beyond fixing pot holes what is needed is a national road re surfacing program, what they are doing at the moment is just wasting even more money on botched repairs so they can point to a number on a chart, it's a hopeless way of going about things.
Wills2 said:
They will only do something about it if it becomes a vote winner, but it's gone beyond fixing pot holes what is needed is a national road re surfacing program, what they are doing at the moment is just wasting even more money on botched repairs so they can point to a number on a chart, it's a hopeless way of going about things.
Personally, I think it really is a votewinner. Plenty of UK voters, not just car drivers, are sick of the issue and realise we are being given a second rate service, for a first world tax take.The issue is, for the Westminster centric "just get a tube" t
ts, it is not even on the radar.PaulD86 said:
robinessex said:
Just remind us how much illegal immigration is costing the country then. The cost of detaining and deporting people arriving in the UK in small boats under planned new legislation could hit £6bn over the next two years, internal government projections say.
Aye, if you have a government that come up with schemes to combat them which are so unfathomably stupid and expensive as to beggar belief then I'm sure that will be a problem. Especially as you can't send most back to France now... Quite what point you're trying to make is lost on me, however, as all I did was point out that there is no taxation which directly funds roads, but no need to try to explain as I'm really not bothered. robinessex said:
As for the state of the roads not being an issue, I beg to differ
You'll struggle to differ as I haven't once said the state of the roads isn't an issue. What I will say, however, is that if the road network is going to improve it will need government led investment on a very large scale. When politicians stand up and announce £XXX million to target potholes, it is laughable. Such gestures achieve nothing. You cannot solve years of underinvestment by throwing some money in the direction of the problem now and then, you need to provide local authorities with a sustained level of investment which allows for strategic asset management.
One way in which a significant burden could be removed from roads authorities would be mandating better warranty periods on utility reinstatements - failed utility reinstatements are one of the biggest causes of potholes and failed surface, however when a utility company digs up a road, they only need to warrant their repairs for 2 or 3 years typically (now 6 in Scotland). What use is a 2 or 3 year warranty on a road which may otherwise last north of 20 years without significant works? Whilst contractor quality varies, typically a utility reinstatement is designed to last the warranty period, not the life of the road. So once two years is up, the taxpayer picks up the tab when the reinstatement fails which it is almost guaranteed to be before the rest of the road.
I'm not for a minute suggesting that without utility reinstatements we would have a pristine road network, however I can say that without the need to make constant repairs to failed utility reinstatements, budgets would go a lot further. Personally, I would like to see a 10 year warranty period on reinstatements with legislation that made it easy to enforce if for local authorities. The problem with that might be that utility companies would pass the burden to their contractors who would then raise their prices significantly which the utility company would then pass straight to the consumer. So better roads, but more expensive gas, electricity and broadband (don't get me started on the destruction to the roads network caused by the rollout of fibre - it should be criminal). Alternatively, you could remove utility companies’ rights to dig up roads and force them to use the local authority who could do the work - most could do it for less than the contractors whilst still making a profit which could be reinvested into the roads... Shame that will never happen.
PaulD86 said:
robinessex said:
We pay enough already.
VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
Of which £0 goes directly to roads. If you want roads spending to be a priority, you need to make elected representitives aware of this. Cut funding for NHS, schools, social care etc and you'll never be elected again. Cut funding for roads and people grumble. Roads will always be the easy target when finances are squeezed. VED generated around £7.3 billion. Fuel Duty about £25.1 billion. £12 billion VAT derived from motorists buying, running and using their vehicles. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). Motor insurance premiums generated almost £1.2 billion.
They currently have a long stretch of the A46 south of Newark on Trent restricted to 40mph and contraflow system in place.
The road is old concrete slab type construction and hasn’t been maintained for years. It’s bone shaking for the whole section.
It’s been in place for about 6 months already and should have been completed in May, now delayed to September so about 10 months in total for an estimate cost on Highways website of £16Million quid.
The whole ride needs resurfacing. What have they done. Sealed the line down the middle of the two lanes where the concrete blocks join. Painted a new white line and filled some of the deeper holes.
I drove down a completed piece the other week when they changed the contraflow system around. Within 3 days there were 1” plus pieces of tarmac that had already been pulled out the joints and holes they had patched. Bearing in mind the traffic is limited to 40mph, not the roads usual 70mph and is enforced via average speed cameras.
How long will these repairs last. I’d wager not long enough to get to September when the whole project is supposed to be completed.
Completion of major A46 roadworks delayed to summer https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershi...
The road is old concrete slab type construction and hasn’t been maintained for years. It’s bone shaking for the whole section.
It’s been in place for about 6 months already and should have been completed in May, now delayed to September so about 10 months in total for an estimate cost on Highways website of £16Million quid.
The whole ride needs resurfacing. What have they done. Sealed the line down the middle of the two lanes where the concrete blocks join. Painted a new white line and filled some of the deeper holes.
I drove down a completed piece the other week when they changed the contraflow system around. Within 3 days there were 1” plus pieces of tarmac that had already been pulled out the joints and holes they had patched. Bearing in mind the traffic is limited to 40mph, not the roads usual 70mph and is enforced via average speed cameras.
How long will these repairs last. I’d wager not long enough to get to September when the whole project is supposed to be completed.
Completion of major A46 roadworks delayed to summer https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershi...
Wills2 said:
They will only do something about it if it becomes a vote winner, but it's gone beyond fixing pot holes what is needed is a national road re surfacing program, what they are doing at the moment is just wasting even more money on botched repairs so they can point to a number on a chart, it's a hopeless way of going about things.
They closed off one of the main roads to our village the other day. I was hopeful that this meant a full rip up and lay down of new surface.No. They just cut large sections out and patched in new stuff. This would be OK I guess if the new patches were nicely done, but they're all full of ripples and ruffles like the ruched leather on your 90s luxury barge. If you closed your eyes, some sections are barely distinguishable from what was there before. I give it about a year before these new patches are pounded to crumbling mess, especially once it gets wetter for longer.
CoolHands said:
The blokes doing it are fking idiots
The only ones done properly are the big teams where they resurface the whole road with those massive machines
You mean like Ringwood Jacobs, Essex council's preferred contractor, who have been sacked by two other councils for poor workmanship. They have a history of complete resurfacing sections that fall to bits a few years after being done.king idiotsThe only ones done properly are the big teams where they resurface the whole road with those massive machines
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