What condition your local roads?
What condition your local roads?
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granville

Original Poster:

18,764 posts

284 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Well, what're they like?

Round here, it would appear that the dunderheaded communists who allegedly maintain the tarmac are engaged in an experiment with Manchester University's Social History department, to uncover the realities of the civil war era transport infrastructure.

To wit, our local highways and byways are literally crumbling.

Not only is EVERY post-service excavation a masterclass in an O'Reilly-spec artistic interpretation of patchwork surrealism but it feels as if holes are being DELIBERATELY created along each and every stretch of the black stuff for no good reason aside from ruining everybodys' suspension and frankly, hacking orf Johnny Motorist.

Even the most redoubtable Jaguar Sovereign, suffused with an extra dollop of syrup in it's shockers would baulk and jarr like a Siberian Trabant.

It is DIABOLICAL but what will happen to rectify it?

Jack Sh1t, that's what.

Council Tax my arse, I hope the Taliban take 'em out, the dogs.

{I deliberately avoided the subject of the criminally artificial hazards like sump humps because this issue defines the mindsets of our local oppressors: actual movement itself, via automobile, is to be transformed into unpleasant trial, that we might take to the rickshaw.}

>>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 19th February 10:58

chrisbr68

5,500 posts

271 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Round here they are obsessed with making changes that are not needed. Few roundabouts and traffic lights trown in here and there for good measure. Other than that, not bad, theyve resurfaced lots of them recently, not sure that they needed it that badly.

Theres this one corner in a road (wont explain, its a bit complex) that needed a roundabout badly and it got one! So it seems were fortunate!

puggit

49,445 posts

271 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
We have good roads in Reading - just with a daft traffic system!!! Surplus traffic lights everywhere, and no sensible roundabouts where needed. They are always working on the roads, which causes lots of jams

A couple of miles North, in Oxon... it's a different story. As we all know they neglect the roads so that they can lower the speed limits, so they can fleece the drivers!

v8thunder

27,647 posts

281 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Our roads are so bad they're almost unadopted. The Lib Dems said that if they got into power they'd have them resurfaced, so what happened when the Lib Dems got the most marginal seat in the country?

Speed humps. Down every single bloody one of them. This is a quiets residential area, no-one's been killed since it were all fields and someone got run over by a horse and cart, it's so quiet even the 20mph brigade haven't got to it yet, but instead of resurfacing, the Lib Dems decided to add yet another road surface inconsistency to the point where if it's icy even reversing off the drive can be dangerous.

And they had the cheek to send us a glib little leaflet saying that they'd 'made improvements' to our local roads when they'd finished. In short, they listen to what the people say, feed it through their ideology-ometer, then produce something people didn't want.

They're not getting my vote again, and in this constituency, with a majority of 36, making it the country's most marginal, it doesn't take many pissed off people to lose the local MP their job.

BliarOut

72,863 posts

262 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
They're ed

But, think about it. If they don't resurface the roads, accidents will go up and justify more speed cams. It's a double whammy for the treasury. Not only do they not spend money maintaining the roads, they get revenue from the fines.

OK, it will cost a few lives, but the government needs a lot of money to pay for all those "twinning" visits and flowers.

granville

Original Poster:

18,764 posts

284 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
v8thunder said:

...In short, they listen to what the people say, feed it through their ideology-ometer, then produce something people didn't want.


What a brilliant observation: you really are one of the best posters on PH.

Hail to thee.

v8thunder said:

They're not getting my vote again, and in this constituency, with a majority of 36, making it the country's most marginal, it doesn't take many pissed off people to lose the local MP their job.


OhmiGod! Someone of your perception and seeming predispositon voting 'iberal?

Hell's teeth! Were you ill, Sir?

_VTEC_

2,453 posts

268 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
We've got some of the worst roads in Europe, - no doubt. But I've seen some blacktop in continents afar that would make ours seem like an exercise in glass ware surfacing.

Seriously, pot holes larger in size than your average valley.

GregE240

10,857 posts

290 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Mine are great.

Well happy, in spite of the exhorbitant council tax (soon to be reduced thanks to single occupancy - hooray).

No complaints from visiting VMAX-ers. Quite the contrary, in fact.

v8thunder

27,647 posts

281 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
derestrictor said:

v8thunder said:

...In short, they listen to what the people say, feed it through their ideology-ometer, then produce something people didn't want.



What a brilliant observation: you really are one of the best posters on PH.

Hail to thee.


v8thunder said:

They're not getting my vote again, and in this constituency, with a majority of 36, making it the country's most marginal, it doesn't take many pissed off people to lose the local MP their job.



OhmiGod! Someone of your perception and seeming predispositon voting 'iberal?

Hell's teeth! Were you ill, Sir?



Ah, hang on, worded it wrong - it was a dead tie between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats last time, although I, at the time being 18 and having passed my driving test the same week (plus under pressure from my Tory-hating (for good reason, TBH) parents), I put an X next to Tony's Crony . Look, it was in 2001 and I thought it was a good idea at the time. Needless to say they didn't get the seat anyway.

Of course, since the Lib Dem candidate tried to keep her job as local councillor as well (with BOTH salaries), it erupted into the papers and she was 'half-sacked' by her party into doing just the one job.

I've met both her and the Tory candidate. The Tory's a down-to-earth honest bloke who tells it like it is. She's a hand-wringing whinger who sees everything as a portent of the end of the world, but drums up support by telling the people what they want to hear, then not doing it

I'm going to try and swing it back come the next election.

sadako

7,080 posts

261 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Around here they are either very good or bad, with little in between. They are also putting in a massive bus lane along the A3 from Waterlooville to Cosham, and dropped the now wider road from 40 to 30. When I have finished restoring my MR2 I might keep it in the garage and get an old rusty beaten up hilux. At least I can drive at reasonable speed over speed bumps, speed tables, etc. I can also not worry about width restrictors because if I scrape one, it'll probably put more paint on than take off...

If they make these illegal perhaps some sort of dune buggy?

granville

Original Poster:

18,764 posts

284 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
Mine are great.


Well they would be, wouldn't they?

Who the hell do you think you are, ErnestM?

Don't forget, brown is live.


Oink, oink.

GregE240

10,857 posts

290 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
derestrictor said:

GregE240 said:
Mine are great.



Well they would be, wouldn't they?

Who the hell do you think you are, ErnestM?

Don't forget, brown is live.


Oink, oink.
You're joking.....right?

Seriously, when did you last slag off the roads around me then, boyo?

I'll remind you - never.

granville

Original Poster:

18,764 posts

284 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Stop being so irrepressibly bouncy - this is a cathartic moaning bastard thread - it doesn't need any sort of objective reason or logic throwing in to muddy the waters.

Two sugars, there's a good man.

GregE240

10,857 posts

290 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Out of sugar here squire.....will anthrax do instead?

You grotty little man.

ErnestM

11,621 posts

290 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all


Somebody call ?

The roads around here are great, despite having no State income tax and property taxes (probably more akin to the "council tax") of only around $2000 per annum (residents get a break on PT in FL).

I thought I saw a pothole developing on the way to work the other day, but by the time I was driving home, the nice men from the road works had already had it patched.

However, we are going to be in for some delays soon as they are going to be widening I-4 though downtown Orlando (again ), but this time to make it 12 lane...


ErnestM

>> Edited by ErnestM on Saturday 19th February 11:59

towman

14,938 posts

262 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
In general, our Motorway system is falling to bits. And yes, trucks are to blame. Not necessarily the trucks themselves, but the tyre/axle configuration that is used. Trailer tyres (which carry the most weight) are now more commonly "super singles" i.e. one wide tyre instead of two. Hence the wieght is concentrated in a more narrow band. Hence the tramlines in lane 1.

The road builders know this problem, so why don`t they engineer it out?

Why don`t we have a massive tax on foreign trucks to discourage them from using our roads? Incidently, it is more likely to be the foreigners who are fully freighted or overweight given that they need to be cost effective over the distances travelled.

granville

Original Poster:

18,764 posts

284 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
See what I mean?

God I resent the colonials, happy clappy in technocolour.

Greg, have a safe journey home.



Bitter, twisted & dare I confess in the affirmative? Resolutely Grottius McGrim.

ErnestM

11,621 posts

290 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all


That will come as quite a surprise to the wife. I tend to thing of myself as a realist. She refers to me, sometimes, as:

"the black cloud of death"




ErnestM

>> Edited by ErnestM on Saturday 19th February 12:11

lazyitus

19,930 posts

289 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
quotequote all
Were greasy as hell coming in this morning.

Now they're dry. I leave at 1pm so its right foot down, 5,500rpm and off we go!

AndySA

902 posts

286 months

Saturday 19th February 2005
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Around here they are often covered in sand. Can be quite scary then you crest a rise to find a sand dune claiming half your lane for itself.