Road "resurfacing" woes
Discussion
I don't normally do things like this, but the scale of this resurfacing work has started to make it almost impossible to avoid.
I'm sure most of you have seen the state of our roads, potholed and torn up, which make it really uncomfortable to drive on.
It seems the council's resolution to this, rather than resurface properly using tarmac, is to spray bitumen on the roads and then throw down granite chippings. This is called surface dressing.
If any of you have ever driven over a freshly surfaced road you'll probably notice that the chippings bash against the underneath and sides of your car like the sound of a machine gun unless you drive at walking speed.
I have also found that if I drive at a slow enough speed to stop this chip onslaught, some moron overtakes and showers me in chippings.
Last time I cleaned my white car it took me ALL DAY to remove all the tar spots.
I don't think this substandard repair is what we pay for so I started an ePetition and if we get enough signatures then they have to debate it in Parliament.
If you feel the same, I ask you to sign and share. Together we can actually make a difference
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/66987
I'm sure most of you have seen the state of our roads, potholed and torn up, which make it really uncomfortable to drive on.
It seems the council's resolution to this, rather than resurface properly using tarmac, is to spray bitumen on the roads and then throw down granite chippings. This is called surface dressing.
If any of you have ever driven over a freshly surfaced road you'll probably notice that the chippings bash against the underneath and sides of your car like the sound of a machine gun unless you drive at walking speed.
I have also found that if I drive at a slow enough speed to stop this chip onslaught, some moron overtakes and showers me in chippings.
Last time I cleaned my white car it took me ALL DAY to remove all the tar spots.
I don't think this substandard repair is what we pay for so I started an ePetition and if we get enough signatures then they have to debate it in Parliament.
If you feel the same, I ask you to sign and share. Together we can actually make a difference
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/66987
Signed.
However, its not the odd tar spot that worries me; you ought to try riding down a freshly 'dressed' road on two wheels. The crop gathers in the gutters, so its horrible on a bicycle, and on a motorbike its no fun sliding across the residue as it piles up in-between the tyre tracks.
You also end up with about the noisiest possible road surface, a complete burden for anyone try to live quietly by a road that's been treated.
SS7
However, its not the odd tar spot that worries me; you ought to try riding down a freshly 'dressed' road on two wheels. The crop gathers in the gutters, so its horrible on a bicycle, and on a motorbike its no fun sliding across the residue as it piles up in-between the tyre tracks.
You also end up with about the noisiest possible road surface, a complete burden for anyone try to live quietly by a road that's been treated.
SS7
BMW-SPORT said:
Last time I cleaned my white car it took me ALL DAY to remove all the tar spots.
Autoglym intensive tar remover is what you need. It's awesome stuff, you can get every single tar spot off the car in minutes not all day.I don't understand why they spread loose gravel on the road though, it seems stupid. The bitumen is presumably pretty much dry by the time cars are allowed on it so the gravel isn't serving any purpose apart from chipping paint and windscreens, why don't they use a sweeper to remove it?
I agree and it's started locally to me again, it's a piss poor way of maintaining the roads, increases road noise as well. When it beds down it just gets ripped up by the traffic again especially on corners leaving a pock marked, ruffled, rough surface, I've seen them ruin perfectly good roads with this crap.
(somebody from road planning will be along in a minute to tell us our views on what we see, hear and feel about this shoddy work is wrong and it's perfectly acceptable.)
Signed!
(somebody from road planning will be along in a minute to tell us our views on what we see, hear and feel about this shoddy work is wrong and it's perfectly acceptable.)
Signed!
They've done this a lot around Hampshire and on their defence they do normally send a couple of sweepers down. I had the pleasure of following one to work at lunch time last week. You're right though it's rubbish and their failure to lift drain covers just means the road is bumpier and noisier than before.
shoestring7 said:
Signed.
However, its not the odd tar spot that worries me; you ought to try riding down a freshly 'dressed' road on two wheels. The crop gathers in the gutters, so its horrible on a bicycle, and on a motorbike its no fun sliding across the residue as it piles up in-between the tyre tracks.
However, its not the odd tar spot that worries me; you ought to try riding down a freshly 'dressed' road on two wheels. The crop gathers in the gutters, so its horrible on a bicycle, and on a motorbike its no fun sliding across the residue as it piles up in-between the tyre tracks.
It's also not much fun for pedestrians using the pavements next to surface dressed roads.A busy road on my commute had surface dressing put down a few weeks back and I just noticed this morning that small patches of bare tar are already showing in a couple of places. Excellent value for money.
The odd thing - as observed by many on here in other threads is that they seem to do this to roads that aren't too bad in the first place - whilst leaving the terrible ones alone.
One road I regularly use has a couple of bad potholes - I noticed someone had highlighted them with yellow paint and assumed some work was planned - that was several weeks ago and guess what?
One road I regularly use has a couple of bad potholes - I noticed someone had highlighted them with yellow paint and assumed some work was planned - that was several weeks ago and guess what?
V8forweekends said:
The odd thing - as observed by many on here in other threads is that they seem to do this to roads that aren't too bad in the first place - whilst leaving the terrible ones alone.
One road I regularly use has a couple of bad potholes - I noticed someone had highlighted them with yellow paint and assumed some work was planned - that was several weeks ago and guess what?
My theory is the council get a map and mount it on a pin board. They then randomly throw darts at it. The roads nearest to where the darts land gets resurfaced.One road I regularly use has a couple of bad potholes - I noticed someone had highlighted them with yellow paint and assumed some work was planned - that was several weeks ago and guess what?
plasticpig said:
My theory is the council get a map and mount it on a pin board. They then randomly throw darts at it. The roads nearest to where the darts land gets resurfaced.
It's a good theory, but I suspect it's more scientific - along the lines of "All these pesky potholes are expensive and time-consuming, but Mr XYZ at road-mending Solutions Plc has given us a good deal on pointless top-dressing of our best roads, so let's do that instead - it's the answer to all our pesky road mending problems and we'll be able to show the bills if any of those horrid taxpayers say we aren't spending on the roads"
Sections of the A4 between Newbury and Reading and some of the rural roads between have been dressed this way... To be honest I turn around and take another route avoiding them for a few weeks. The sound they make above ~5mph is horrific. and I would rather not put my car through that.
Signed. Our local authority decided to resurface some roads that were actually quite smooth. To be replaced by the equivalent of a rutted track. The loose chipping stage was just awful and the end result not worth waiting for.
On one road they even started painting the white lines again before the chippings were even fully away. This resulted in white lines that resembled Morse code because they were trying to paint on a loose surface.
On one road they even started painting the white lines again before the chippings were even fully away. This resulted in white lines that resembled Morse code because they were trying to paint on a loose surface.
While you're cleaning those tar spots off, spare a minute to think about motorcyclists riding over this s
t! I fking hate this "resurfacing", all it does is make a fking mess. The council decided that a great way of preventing accidents in winter would be to tip gravel all over the roads of my estate. How the fk that was going to work I don't know, as it just ended up in frozen lumps at the road side while the actual bit you drive on remained iced over, smooth as polished glass!
t! I fking hate this "resurfacing", all it does is make a fking mess. The council decided that a great way of preventing accidents in winter would be to tip gravel all over the roads of my estate. How the fk that was going to work I don't know, as it just ended up in frozen lumps at the road side while the actual bit you drive on remained iced over, smooth as polished glass!You're driving at walking pace and the person overtaking you is the moron?
It's the underside of your car, if you care that much, seek professional help.
Everyone is brassic. If you want the roads fixed properly, you'll need to start stting out £50 notes. Everyone is taking their mouthful of the big st sandwich and road users are no exception.
I drive a big Jag for most of my miles, so the road could be littered with landmines and I probably wouldn't notice. As it is, I sympathise with your plight, but given the state of the finances of the entire public sector, I'm happy for a cheap and cheerful solution in this instance if it frees up some cash for something else a bit more mission critical.
Simon.
It's the underside of your car, if you care that much, seek professional help.
Everyone is brassic. If you want the roads fixed properly, you'll need to start s
tting out £50 notes. Everyone is taking their mouthful of the big st sandwich and road users are no exception.I drive a big Jag for most of my miles, so the road could be littered with landmines and I probably wouldn't notice. As it is, I sympathise with your plight, but given the state of the finances of the entire public sector, I'm happy for a cheap and cheerful solution in this instance if it frees up some cash for something else a bit more mission critical.
Simon.
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