Councils filling potholes 'every 19 seconds'

Councils filling potholes 'every 19 seconds'

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robinessex

Original Poster:

11,059 posts

181 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
Councils filling potholes 'every 19 seconds'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56590518#co...

The number of potholes filled in by councils in England and Wales has increased during the past year to almost 1.7 million, a survey suggests.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance said this figure - up 200,000 from 1.5 million in 2019-20 - equated to one being fixed every 19 seconds.
The total amount spent by local authorities on filling in potholes in 2020-1 was £93.6m, it added.
The government said it was working to ensure "smoother, safer journeys"....................continues

The headline missed a bit:-

New potholes appear every 10 seconds.

The reply by the government:-

The government said it was working to ensure "smoother, safer journeys".

Only one word is adequate for that is b*******s

Unless my eyes and backside are deceiving me, the pothole fiasco continues unchecked. Potholes in the location are increasing exponentially. The privatisation of road maintenance must surely be the biggest con ever perpetrated upon the motoring public. From what I'm seeing there isn't a hope in hell of ever getting out roads back to the condition when I learnt to drive, never saw a pothole in those days. It's about time an enquiry was set up to examine the whole system. It's corrupt beyond belief now.

PS £30 for puncture repair recently due to pothole strike.

PPS Our local authority has UNDERSPENT £1,000,000 on road maintenance in the last financial year.

But a Department for Transport spokesperson said: "This government is providing £2.5bn in funding over five years to help councils improve their roads, to ensure all road users have smoother, safer journeys."

Yearly income from vehicle tax, fuel duty, fuel VAT is £96 Billion. The government is spending 0.5% of that on the roads


Edited by robinessex on Thursday 1st April 09:08

steveo3002

10,526 posts

174 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
had one here in south cambs ignored since december ...just filled it in this week

robinessex

Original Poster:

11,059 posts

181 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
steveo3002 said:
had one here in south cambs ignored since december ...just filled it in this week
Wow, how did you get it done so quickly? I've seen 18 months here.

Jasandjules

69,899 posts

229 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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Local road near us has so many large potholes that people are selling their cars and buying large 4*4s...... And when I say large, I mean 3ft square and about 5" deep......

swisstoni

16,999 posts

279 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
I’m in no way close to the situation but it does seem that private contractors are making a very good living out of it.
I wonder if some other people are too.


robinessex

Original Poster:

11,059 posts

181 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
swisstoni said:
I’m in no way close to the situation but it does seem that private contractors are making a very good living out of it.
I wonder if some other people are too.
Yes, the council guy who hands out the contracts, has nice holidays abroad. Or his driveway done free.

groomi

9,317 posts

243 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
Local road near us has so many large potholes that people are selling their cars and buying large 4*4s...... And when I say large, I mean 3ft square and about 5" deep......
That doesn't sounds like much of a 4x4... wink

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
Local road near us has so many large potholes that people are selling their cars and buying large 4*4s...... And when I say large, I mean 3ft square and about 5" deep......
Is it a public road? Has it/have they been reported?

You can have a look here to see if the road is publicly maintained and if the holes have been reported:

https://highwaysreporting.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/

(All LAs have a reporting procedure for potholes, they all rely (at least partially) on the public reporting any probelms.

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
robinessex said:
swisstoni said:
I’m in no way close to the situation but it does seem that private contractors are making a very good living out of it.
I wonder if some other people are too.
Yes, the council guy who hands out the contracts, has nice holidays abroad. Or his driveway done free.
rofl

DailyHack

3,179 posts

111 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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No quick enough for me, £250 for new damper and spring from a shocking pot hole I hit in the road last week! mad

Roads are an utter disgrace! Even sold my road bike due to this and stuck to my MTB on the road, it is lethal out there

robinessex

Original Poster:

11,059 posts

181 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
DailyHack said:
No quick enough for me, £250 for new damper and spring from a shocking pot hole I hit in the road last week! mad

Roads are an utter disgrace! Even sold my road bike due to this and stuck to my MTB on the road, it is lethal out there
Some years ago, the bill for a pothole strike was £1200, new wheels and tyres.

Far Cough

2,228 posts

168 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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Too busy narrowing roads, creating spurious cycle lanes and dropping wooden planters everywhere to block roads.... WTAF !

DailyHack

3,179 posts

111 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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Far Cough said:
Too busy narrowing roads, creating spurious cycle lanes and dropping wooden planters everywhere to block roads.... WTAF !
Dont even get me started on cycle lanes. A sudden cycle lane for 2 yards, then your back on the curb or the road swerving or crashing into holes that you disappear down.

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
I wonder if they are just filling in the same one every 19 seconds, that would explain a lot

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
The issue is not potholes, but simply the under capacity, over use, and zero repair to the roads themselves. "filling in a pot hole" is no use when the top surface of the road itself is worn beyond repair. The proper fix at this point is close the road, scrape the top off, relay, roll and re open. Time consuming & expensive. So cash strapped councils are just filling pot holes to try to avoid actually fixing the problem.

This is why pot holes appear faster than they can be fixed, because the roads are worn out, and filling them is not a robust fix, so they are actually making the problem worse each time........

Funk

26,277 posts

209 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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Max_Torque said:
The issue is not potholes, but simply the under capacity, over use, and zero repair to the roads themselves. "filling in a pot hole" is no use when the top surface of the road itself is worn beyond repair. The proper fix at this point is close the road, scrape the top off, relay, roll and re open. Time consuming & expensive. So cash strapped councils are just filling pot holes to try to avoid actually fixing the problem.

This is why pot holes appear faster than they can be fixed, because the roads are worn out, and filling them is not a robust fix, so they are actually making the problem worse each time........
The road outside my place has almost no kerb any more - as rather than do what you've said, they've just put so much tar-and-grit over the top of the old damaged tarmac that it's nearly level with the pavement now... It also means you're constantly dodging what become more and more sunken utility/man-hole covers as they get lower and lower relative to the road surface. Which also means that those strike areas are the ones that start to crumble and disintegrate first anyway.

All that top surface dressing does is take on the issues of what's underneath in fairly short order including scabby, broken tarmac and holes. It's the very essence of 'kicking the can down the road' and eventually it'll all need to be fixed.

BoRED S2upid

19,702 posts

240 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
This is the problem if they took more than 19seconds the fix might be done properly and last longer. Here they tend to do that slurry / gravel fix so at least all the road is done it’s horrible but we don’t have many pot holes. We also have hundreds of cyclists who all report pot holes so it must be a constant barrage to the council.

Funk

26,277 posts

209 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
If they want to get more people cycling they need to provide proper, dedicated cycle lanes and/or fix the roads properly. Some of the ones round my way are lethal on a bike.

DailyHack

3,179 posts

111 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
quotequote all
Funk said:
If they want to get more people cycling they need to provide proper, dedicated cycle lanes and/or fix the roads properly. Some of the ones round my way are lethal on a bike.
Yep, why I sold my road bike a few weeks back, and use my MTB on the roads now if I have to (more suspension).

Roads are lethal now for skinny, skeletal road bikes to cope with potholes

sxmwht

1,562 posts

59 months

Thursday 1st April 2021
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I saw a pothole the other day that had been marked with a cone. Unfortunately, said cone had fallen into it on its side and was barely visible hehe