State of our roads.
Discussion
OpulentBob said:
Yep, BT/Gas/Electric whoever dig up, and (poorly) reinstate the road, but it's the Highways dept that gets the blame when the surface fails.
Isn't the Highways dept (or other roads authority) responsible for monitoring contractors/service providers who dig up the road? I thought they had some decent legislation to help them hammer the pothole manufacturers?As an aside, I just took a very pleasant trip at the weekend through the Scottish Borders, Cumbria and North Yorkshire and was pleasantly surprised at the excellent state of the roads I encountered.
CambsBill said:
When was the last time you drive in the States? The roads there are dreadful!The UK is, as always, let down by the mentality of doing jobs at the lowest price rather than a minimum quality. I would happily vote for any party that promised it would introduce statutory standards for road condition and repairs
kambites said:
As has been pointed about above, part of the problem is poor quality road repairs - as soon as you dig up a road and then only relay part of the surface it's much more likely that moisture will make its way into the road and cause it to break apart when it freezes. Personally I'm of the opinion that if companies want to dig up the road, they should be obliged to replace the entire road surface when they've finished not just patch a trench.
I do agree.Edited by kambites on Monday 24th April 11:50
However that won't happen - they simply won't pay for it.
God only knows why on Week X they resurface a 3 mile stretch of road, and on Weed X+ 2 it's being dug up again to lay utilities... why not just lay it all at the same time
CambsBill said:
When was the last time you drive in the States? The roads there are dreadful!The UK is, as always, let down by the mentality of doing jobs at the lowest price rather than a minimum quality. I would happily vote for any party that promised it would introduce statutory standards for road condition and repairs
kambites said:
Morningside said:
I'm sure this gets posted every five years or so but the roads of today seem worse than some ex soviet country.
Which ex-soviet country did you have in mind? The UK's roads are certainly massively better than Bulgaria's where pot holes big enough to rip wheels off in the middle of the motorway is the norm. 
crankedup said:
kambites said:
Morningside said:
I'm sure this gets posted every five years or so but the roads of today seem worse than some ex soviet country.
Which ex-soviet country did you have in mind? The UK's roads are certainly massively better than Bulgaria's where pot holes big enough to rip wheels off in the middle of the motorway is the norm. I live near the coast just down from Lowestoft so it's close enough.
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
A couple of months ago. Have driven thousands of miles across various states. Obviously the quality varies, but in any none-rural area the average state of the roads is much much better.
I've only driven in four or five states, but in my experience I'd say the average road quality is pretty similar to England, albeit with a slightly different distribution. The city roads tend to be better because they have about one lane per car that commutes on them so they can properly resurface a lane without closing the road but once you get out in the sticks the roads are worse, in some cases much worse.Similar in France, Italy, Spain, etc. in my experience. They may do some things better, but the overall quality of the roads is no higher.
fivepointnine said:
CambsBill said:
When was the last time you drive in the States? The roads there are dreadful!The UK is, as always, let down by the mentality of doing jobs at the lowest price rather than a minimum quality. I would happily vote for any party that promised it would introduce statutory standards for road condition and repairs
As for this country - the problem is 60s roads, built for 60s cars, and 60s traffic volumes.
Morningside said:
crankedup said:
kambites said:
Morningside said:
I'm sure this gets posted every five years or so but the roads of today seem worse than some ex soviet country.
Which ex-soviet country did you have in mind? The UK's roads are certainly massively better than Bulgaria's where pot holes big enough to rip wheels off in the middle of the motorway is the norm. I live near the coast just down from Lowestoft so it's close enough.
Mostly ok round these parts. They do eventually come and strip the surface a lay new tarmac. Eventually.
Many roads are generally smooth, but as mentioned are very undulatory. Depending on the car this can either be quite a nice sensation or a queasy one!
But then we have some roads that are down right shocking. The road into our village has been dug up and re-patched so many times I think even a hover craft would find the traversal uncomfortable. In the Civic, it feels like what I imagine it to be like rolling down the stairs in a wheelie bin.
Get out on the bike though (cycling) and that really shows up how terrible the surfaces can be. I went down one particular road near here once. Won't be doing it again as I don't want to be extracting my seat from my arse.
Many roads are generally smooth, but as mentioned are very undulatory. Depending on the car this can either be quite a nice sensation or a queasy one!
But then we have some roads that are down right shocking. The road into our village has been dug up and re-patched so many times I think even a hover craft would find the traversal uncomfortable. In the Civic, it feels like what I imagine it to be like rolling down the stairs in a wheelie bin.
Get out on the bike though (cycling) and that really shows up how terrible the surfaces can be. I went down one particular road near here once. Won't be doing it again as I don't want to be extracting my seat from my arse.
I have never understood in this day and age, when the fill in a pothole, it doesn't seem to last long.
Bad workmanship I wonder. At our local Sainsbury's three paving slabs were coned off for over a year, they finally replaced them about a month ago, cracked already, to me a layman, I would suggest the base filling of probably sand wasn't even.
Bad workmanship I wonder. At our local Sainsbury's three paving slabs were coned off for over a year, they finally replaced them about a month ago, cracked already, to me a layman, I would suggest the base filling of probably sand wasn't even.
I am sure that when the fibre optic cables were installed around Norwich many years ago , the workmen had something like 20% of their wages held back for 2-3 years as a sort of guarantee for the surface dressing they reinstalled. If all was good after the time passed, the retainer was paid.
In the Uk we use a softer asphalt than abroad due to the lower temps experienced , in southern europe a higher % of cement is used in the mix to keep the road surface "set" in hotter temps.
When i was at college , I was taught that the best road construction is solid concrete base with an asphalt surface dressing. It deals with HGV traffic better, reducing the tramlines, water penetration of the surface will only "lift" the top dressing without causing deep potholes.
This construction also allows the German way of rolling road repairs. Small transit size vehicles
constantly driving around doing quick repairs of potholes/damage causing minimal disruption...usually they work through the night. This negates the need for miles of roads to be coned off .With major resurfacing scheduled for maybe every 10 years.
In my personal experience of roads across Europe ,every country has its own good and bad points,
The UK has the basic road "profile" pretty much perfected...but lack of maintenance coupled with poor workmanship and the cheapest build costs gives us the problems this thread is about.
Abroad varies so much... where I have a house in the mountains ...this year at the beginning of March, for a week the days were 20+ degC and the nights dropped to -20degC.... this will kill any road surface that has minor defects. Also the roads usually have a single fall across them and not the crown we have in UK. Smoother asphalt with a smaller aggregate is used as it produces a more sealed surface than the chunky aggregate that is prone to breaking up.
Also the application of "salt" in winter can accelerate the breakdown of the road surface. In countries affected by a winter covering of snow , the snow is used to seal the surface underneath from the temperature fluctuations and provides a surprisingly grippy surface if prepared correctly.
I also think there is just too much traffic on the roads today....going back only 30 years households usually only had 1 car , on the street i live on every house has 2 cars and at least 1 works vehicle
Powerful vehicles cause a lot of damage as well, back when i was a boy ,we used to rip our moto-x bikes around the streets... and the nobblies would rip chunks out of the road, and i have witnessed
a nissan GTR throwing bits of road up behind it as it left a set of lights!!
I like the fact the roads are not perfect...it keeps the speeds down and us alert!
In the Uk we use a softer asphalt than abroad due to the lower temps experienced , in southern europe a higher % of cement is used in the mix to keep the road surface "set" in hotter temps.
When i was at college , I was taught that the best road construction is solid concrete base with an asphalt surface dressing. It deals with HGV traffic better, reducing the tramlines, water penetration of the surface will only "lift" the top dressing without causing deep potholes.
This construction also allows the German way of rolling road repairs. Small transit size vehicles
constantly driving around doing quick repairs of potholes/damage causing minimal disruption...usually they work through the night. This negates the need for miles of roads to be coned off .With major resurfacing scheduled for maybe every 10 years.
In my personal experience of roads across Europe ,every country has its own good and bad points,
The UK has the basic road "profile" pretty much perfected...but lack of maintenance coupled with poor workmanship and the cheapest build costs gives us the problems this thread is about.
Abroad varies so much... where I have a house in the mountains ...this year at the beginning of March, for a week the days were 20+ degC and the nights dropped to -20degC.... this will kill any road surface that has minor defects. Also the roads usually have a single fall across them and not the crown we have in UK. Smoother asphalt with a smaller aggregate is used as it produces a more sealed surface than the chunky aggregate that is prone to breaking up.
Also the application of "salt" in winter can accelerate the breakdown of the road surface. In countries affected by a winter covering of snow , the snow is used to seal the surface underneath from the temperature fluctuations and provides a surprisingly grippy surface if prepared correctly.
I also think there is just too much traffic on the roads today....going back only 30 years households usually only had 1 car , on the street i live on every house has 2 cars and at least 1 works vehicle
Powerful vehicles cause a lot of damage as well, back when i was a boy ,we used to rip our moto-x bikes around the streets... and the nobblies would rip chunks out of the road, and i have witnessed
a nissan GTR throwing bits of road up behind it as it left a set of lights!!
I like the fact the roads are not perfect...it keeps the speeds down and us alert!
tuneltek said:
I like the fact the roads are not perfect...it keeps the speeds down and us alert!
Not around here it doesn't (Mansfield, Notts): the street around the corner from us is incredibly bumpy and uneven, but people still speed down it like it's track-perfect and smooth. Somebody actually lost control a few years ago and flipped their car over onto their roof. The road is long and straight, and thats all some people need. They obviously don't care about the surface, or their suspension, sadly. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff