20mph - beware - skid risk

[benjj]

Is it just me or is the new way of laying roads for the council to employ someone to pour tar and gravel onto a road, pop up at 20mph limit and just leave it until the traffic has done the job of a roller?

All around my area (North Yorkshire) this is going on, sometimes for several miles. Cars are being covered in crap, stone chipped (as nobody bothers to keep to 20mph). One part of the A59 by Skipton has had a 20mph limit in place for 9 weeks now. The road is 'finished' in two strips either side where our cars have driven the grit into the tar but the rest of it is, well, a bit French. There is zero sign of anybody coming back to finish it. Ever.

I know this is all a bit Daily Mail but I really would expect my road tax and council tax to pay for a finished job. Perhaps if this is the way things are going we should get some kind of rebate.

[Caulkhead]

They've been doing this 'top-dressing' method at least since I started driving in 1986, I dare say a lot longer.

[kambites]

If it's an A-road, it's almost certainly not funded by council tax, but from central government coffers.

[syko89]

Its like this all over n.yorks, 20mph will rip the paint off your doors with stone chips its shocking.

I have to drive in the middle of the road to slow oncomming cars so they dont send stones my way!

very annoying...

[R500POP]

Same here on the road into Chumppenham Wilts.

[benjj]

kambites said:

If it's an A-road, it's almost certainly not funded by council tax.

Who is is funded by then? Genuine question.

[benjj]

Caulkhead said:

They've been doing this 'top-dressing' method at least since I started driving in 1986, I dare say a lot longer.

Well I am 3 years behind you in age (assuming you passed at 17) and I've not noticed it anywhere near as much as I do today. Not saying it didn't happen, just nowhere near like today's levels.

[The Black Flash]

Caulkhead said:

They've been doing this 'top-dressing' method at least since I started driving in 1986, I dare say a lot longer.

Aye, there was a thread just recently on it.
The stone chip dressing is apparently a cheap way of extending the life of the road surface. It's probably that or yet more tax.

[minicab]

benjj said:

Who is is funded by then? Genuine question.

Highways Agency and Central Government look after all main motorways and arterial A-Roads...

Local councils look after local roads

[Mini1275]

They've done the same here, on what must be six miles of road.

I don't get why though, the road surface was perfectly fine in my opinion.

[benjj]

Well all I can say is that they're a bunch of fking stbag bd s who should put a bit more fking effort into their ing work.

The front of my car is not very

[kambites]

benjj said:

kambites said:

If it's an A-road, it's almost certainly not funded by council tax.

Who is is funded by then? Genuine question.

Central government I think?

[Stu R]

It's a pain in the chute, but I actually prefer it. I don't really care about stone chips, and I've never noticed any significant increase in them anyway despite vast swathes of road in my area being done seemingly on an annual basis - the dual carriageway being the latest to get the treatment. Personally I'd far rather have a few stone chips and have to drive slower than the alternative which is vast swathes of closed lanes and temporary roadworks.

As I understand it, if they did the job properly and resurfaced it, there'd be more potholes after the winter (?). After driving in the US after the pothole police have been out in force and filled up the gaps, it's like driving on cobbles. Give me 20mph and a few stone chips any day.

Surely they can get tarmac suited to a wider tolerance temperature extremes these days? Or is it too expensive?

[FurballS2000]

I don't mind it, but I do mind when some tit in a 3 series overtakes, cuts in and puts a chip in my windscreen....

[minicab]

They've been resurfacing a lot of the roads between Woking and Pirbright with this method recently...

I just change my route to work for a week to give plenty of time for the 'loose' stuff to get trodden down by other cars!

[road_rager]

try riding on it with a motorbike

[DanielJames]

Same here in West Yorkshire buddy

[MarJay]

road_rager said:

try riding on it with a motorbike

Yes its absolutely lethal for anything on two wheels. Scary as hell to ride on, and you just need a tad too much throttle here, or a little bit too much brake there to be flat on your arse.

I think they should stop it ASAP and surface roads properly.

[anonymous-user]

minicab said:

benjj said:

Who is is funded by then? Genuine question.

Highways Agency and Central Government look after all main motorways and arterial A-Roads...

Local councils look after local roads

Which is why the A4232 into Cardiff is bloody awful until you pass under the Culverhouse Cross junction, when it stops being a Trunk Road and becomes a local one, where the surface becomes brilliant.

You can even see the exact point where it happens here

[TomN1994]

Seems like its Yorkshire in General, here in West Yorks the road that goes from Thornes Park to pretty much Grange Moor has had this done, and no workmen have been to do anything, its all been done by the traffic, no gravel left there now, its all in my Stepdad/Grandads tires.