Potholes 'the talk of the canteen'
Discussion
Potholes 'the talk of the canteen'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39407387
Here we go again
"We talk about it all the time in the canteen, amongst drivers, our concerns about the safety and comfort for our customers," said Stephen Hopson, a Bristol bus driver.
He is one of many drivers worried about the state of local roads.
A new survey suggests potholes are an increasing a problem across the UK.
One in six roads across England and Wales is in such a bad state it must be repaired within the next five years, local authorities have said.
Mr Hopson told the BBC that while the local council does repair potholes, those repairs are not built to last.
"The potholes have got worse. After repair, it cracks up again, and we've got the pothole back," he said.
Every year we get this, with the government trotting out the same old garbage
Last year, the government announced £1.1bn for road repairs for 2017 to 2018.
This was increased to £1.2bn in January to include money from the National Productivity Investment Fund and the Pothole Action Fund.
The Department for Transport said: "It is vital councils keep our roads in a good condition to deliver better journeys for drivers.
"We are providing councils more than £6bn over six years to maintain roads and repair potholes.
"On top of this, we announced last autumn an additional £1.1bn to upgrade and repair roads for communities across England."
Basil Fawlty couldn't have devised a worse road repair scheme than we have now. First they took it away from the local council, and gave it the county council. The office responsible is now 20 miles away. Then they privatised the Road Repair Team. So now, if/when a pot hole gets reported, the Pot Hole inspector has to drive 40 miles to gawp at it. If it’s big enough, it gets an orange circle round. Smaller pot holes alongside side are ignored. Eventually, a team arrive to patch it up. The small hole get left. Which, over a time about 6 months, it has grown big enough to go through the same routine again. Of course the privatised company love this, a never ending source of income, patching the holes. Absolutely no chance ever of getting on top of the problem. And the bloody road is beyond it’s life anyway. Full of cracks a fissures. Needs the surface ripping off, and replacing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39407387
Here we go again
"We talk about it all the time in the canteen, amongst drivers, our concerns about the safety and comfort for our customers," said Stephen Hopson, a Bristol bus driver.
He is one of many drivers worried about the state of local roads.
A new survey suggests potholes are an increasing a problem across the UK.
One in six roads across England and Wales is in such a bad state it must be repaired within the next five years, local authorities have said.
Mr Hopson told the BBC that while the local council does repair potholes, those repairs are not built to last.
"The potholes have got worse. After repair, it cracks up again, and we've got the pothole back," he said.
Every year we get this, with the government trotting out the same old garbage
Last year, the government announced £1.1bn for road repairs for 2017 to 2018.
This was increased to £1.2bn in January to include money from the National Productivity Investment Fund and the Pothole Action Fund.
The Department for Transport said: "It is vital councils keep our roads in a good condition to deliver better journeys for drivers.
"We are providing councils more than £6bn over six years to maintain roads and repair potholes.
"On top of this, we announced last autumn an additional £1.1bn to upgrade and repair roads for communities across England."
Basil Fawlty couldn't have devised a worse road repair scheme than we have now. First they took it away from the local council, and gave it the county council. The office responsible is now 20 miles away. Then they privatised the Road Repair Team. So now, if/when a pot hole gets reported, the Pot Hole inspector has to drive 40 miles to gawp at it. If it’s big enough, it gets an orange circle round. Smaller pot holes alongside side are ignored. Eventually, a team arrive to patch it up. The small hole get left. Which, over a time about 6 months, it has grown big enough to go through the same routine again. Of course the privatised company love this, a never ending source of income, patching the holes. Absolutely no chance ever of getting on top of the problem. And the bloody road is beyond it’s life anyway. Full of cracks a fissures. Needs the surface ripping off, and replacing.
Roads in leeds are terrible, but always spare cash for speed bumps. We even had new speed bumps on our road to replacebhebold speed bumps. No one fills the holes, but the bumps are well made... all 32 of them between my house and my work. (Nb i walk when I'm
Working locally, but that's not the point!)
Working locally, but that's not the point!)
Wiltshire's roads are terrible as well.
Several very nasty potholes have opened up again on my commute, one now causes traffic to stop completely if there's opposing traffic as swerving onto the other side of the road is the only way to avoid it.
Also a small village i commute through was meant to be closed off for 2 days over a weekend last week to repair the terrible road running though it. They didn't bother closing the road until Monday then rushed the repairs through in one day, one of the major repairs has already disintegrated.
Its a f
king disgrace which makes me seriously reconsider purchasing anything valuable to drive while i live around here.
Several very nasty potholes have opened up again on my commute, one now causes traffic to stop completely if there's opposing traffic as swerving onto the other side of the road is the only way to avoid it.
Also a small village i commute through was meant to be closed off for 2 days over a weekend last week to repair the terrible road running though it. They didn't bother closing the road until Monday then rushed the repairs through in one day, one of the major repairs has already disintegrated.
Its a f
king disgrace which makes me seriously reconsider purchasing anything valuable to drive while i live around here. Funny really, 99% of the pot holes round my way are made by busses, usually where they brake for speed humps, all that weight concentrated in the same spot umpteen times a day by the heavyest vehical to use the backroads (and 90% of the times the dam bus is empty) simply makes a wear spot on the road surface, in fact it was so bad that 10 months after instaling speed humps outside my place and consequently having to resurface the road (cos of the busses ruining it) they left the speed humps out when they redid the road, of course there are still potholes at the point the buses turn into sidestreets caused simply by the loads on the steering tyres damaging the surface, there's a 3.5T limit on all the back roads near me, unless of course you drive an empty bus then you can ruin the road to your hearts content !
meehaja said:
Roads in leeds are terrible, but always spare cash for speed bumps. We even had new speed bumps on our road to replacebhebold speed bumps. No one fills the holes, but the bumps are well made... all 32 of them between my house and my work. (Nb i walk when I'm
Working locally, but that's not the point!)
Yes interesting that isn't it. No money to fix the roads, plenty of money for car damaging speed bumps that nobody asked for and nobody wants (except non drivers but they tend to be jealous bitter people anyway). Plenty of money for traffic lights, it would seem too.Working locally, but that's not the point!)
HTP99 said:
Try Surrey roads; pot holes, tarmac breaking up, tarmac shifting creating cracks, lines and dips, the roads are awful.
Meanwhile in Scotland half of our, previously tarmac, rural roads are now undulating gravel. Yet my local council is spending millions pedestrianising its favourite poster town, something none of the locals want, and refurbishing all of its administration buildings. Honestly I understand austerity and why it is necessary but the first thing they should have cut is these damn local and national vanity projects. Millions being spunked on crap whilst our previously great infrastructure falls into disrepair.
TameRacingDriver said:
meehaja said:
Roads in leeds are terrible, but always spare cash for speed bumps. We even had new speed bumps on our road to replacebhebold speed bumps. No one fills the holes, but the bumps are well made... all 32 of them between my house and my work. (Nb i walk when I'm
Working locally, but that's not the point!)
Yes interesting that isn't it. No money to fix the roads, plenty of money for car damaging speed bumps that nobody asked for and nobody wants (except non drivers but they tend to be jealous bitter people anyway). Plenty of money for traffic lights, it would seem too.Working locally, but that's not the point!)
Being fair, most 'Highways Agency' roads are in excellent condition, it's the council maintained stuff that is suffering. And, despite most roads across the country being somewhat 'tired', when you enter the Leeds and Bradford area, the roads are just terrible.
The other area which is noticeably shocking is Scotland, The SNP should hang their heads in shame.
I've reported this roundabout (in Wiltshire) before, it's in a shocking state and bordering on risky to actually navigate it properly now...
It's been in an appalling state for about 6 months but far worse now. The options on the Wiltshire Report Tool only went up to 'dustbin lid size' potholes, but these are way, way bigger.
They did something this week...they put a warning triangle on the side of the road.
It's been in an appalling state for about 6 months but far worse now. The options on the Wiltshire Report Tool only went up to 'dustbin lid size' potholes, but these are way, way bigger.
They did something this week...they put a warning triangle on the side of the road.
Not potholes but poor road surface.
On an A road i use the local council (Wigan) put a new surface down last summer. The new surface was chippings stuck to the old road surface with tar or similar substance. Its a heavy use road with all manner of vehicle types using it.
The chippings didnt really stick and shortly after the work was completed, the chipping started to get ripped up and strewn all over the road, pavement and grass verges. There are now large patches on the road surface devoid of chippings.
On an A road i use the local council (Wigan) put a new surface down last summer. The new surface was chippings stuck to the old road surface with tar or similar substance. Its a heavy use road with all manner of vehicle types using it.
The chippings didnt really stick and shortly after the work was completed, the chipping started to get ripped up and strewn all over the road, pavement and grass verges. There are now large patches on the road surface devoid of chippings.
The Surveyor said:
Leeds / Bradford roads have been terrible for decades, it's nothing new.
Being fair, most 'Highways Agency' roads are in excellent condition, it's the council maintained stuff that is suffering. And, despite most roads across the country being somewhat 'tired', when you enter the Leeds and Bradford area, the roads are just terrible.
The other area which is noticeably shocking is Scotland, The SNP should hang their heads in shame.
I can well believe it although I wasn't commenting specifically on Leeds metro area, more just generally across the UK as councils seem to find the cash for speed bumps and lights while generally leaving the roads in a neglected state. Where I live in Gateshead, the council there have been very naughty and have installed speed bumps that were actually too big and were damaging cars, and were forced to replace them with smaller ones.Being fair, most 'Highways Agency' roads are in excellent condition, it's the council maintained stuff that is suffering. And, despite most roads across the country being somewhat 'tired', when you enter the Leeds and Bradford area, the roads are just terrible.
The other area which is noticeably shocking is Scotland, The SNP should hang their heads in shame.
Then again, as an ex local government employee, I really shouldn't be surprised, but honestly, they want shooting.
Clearly it's a national problem. In times of public spending many, many roads (both local and A-roads) were build with a specified lifetime. We've now hit the end of life on those roads and the budget hasn't been prepared to deal with replacing those surfaces with modern, 21st century surfaces. With general elections seemingly always on the horizon big spending issues like this are being left for the next gornment to deal with. It's some kind of dystopian catch 22.
Most of the roads in my local area (Eastbourne) are concrete with a skim of tarmac every few years. They might as well be gravel held together with jelly. The repairs they do these days tend to be subcontracted cheap bodges that last a few months. And here's me thinking we live in a 1st world country... well it's my own fault then for expecting too much.
Most of the roads in my local area (Eastbourne) are concrete with a skim of tarmac every few years. They might as well be gravel held together with jelly. The repairs they do these days tend to be subcontracted cheap bodges that last a few months. And here's me thinking we live in a 1st world country... well it's my own fault then for expecting too much.
Bristol's roads seem to be in a right state at the moment. Most are in rubbish condition and where they do resurface it doesn't seem to wear as well as older road surfaces. I just don't get how budgets work, I had a council flyer through the door yesterday saying that the greens have got 500k for a viability study for clean air zones in Bristol. Is 500k really what it takes for a survey like that?!
Station Lane, Marston Moretaine Bedfordshire.
Hit a pot hole here the other day which meant I had to get the wheel replaced (£800), the car was in for its first service and the inspection showed a further £1,000 damage to the suspension. Currently waiting for parts so I can make a claim from Bedford council. I'm supposed to get two quotes but on a 6 month old car I want OEM parts and repairs done by the dealer, so quotes are immaterial.
Why so specific with the road?
Because this is the road that leads to Millbrook proving ground if you come from the M1 which (based on my experience) Aston, Jaguar, Nissan, Rolls Royce and many others use. If you're going to a proving ground to check handling, performance etc of your new model the last thing you need is knacketed suspension 1/4 mile from the test centre.
Hit a pot hole here the other day which meant I had to get the wheel replaced (£800), the car was in for its first service and the inspection showed a further £1,000 damage to the suspension. Currently waiting for parts so I can make a claim from Bedford council. I'm supposed to get two quotes but on a 6 month old car I want OEM parts and repairs done by the dealer, so quotes are immaterial.
Why so specific with the road?
Because this is the road that leads to Millbrook proving ground if you come from the M1 which (based on my experience) Aston, Jaguar, Nissan, Rolls Royce and many others use. If you're going to a proving ground to check handling, performance etc of your new model the last thing you need is knacketed suspension 1/4 mile from the test centre.
Think your roads are bad? Come to NI. (Bring a 4x4) some pretty bad roads. They now have these wonderful lorries that spray tar out a pipe! The patch lasts all of three days until a lorry driver over it and lifts the entire patch out. All they are good for is leaving a tar puddle that ends up up the side of your car.
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