Road building standards

[RyanOPlasty]

A "Junction Improvement scheme" has just finished near me. This has involved widening the road and resurfacing.
On the first wet day, it is apparent thet the surface is far from level, and there are large puddles due to inadequate drainage. These mostly seem to be adjacent to where the kerb is lowered for crossings.

Can anyone point me to a document containing a required standard of completion for new works ( if there is such a thing)?

[Alucidnation]

Really??

[cmaguire]

I'm more sanguine about life in general than he may be, it hasn't escaped me that, in this world of efficiency we are led to believe we inhabit, the standard of work carried out by most humans is truly abysmal.
That includes roadworks

[Pica-Pica]

RyanOPlasty said:

A "Junction Improvement scheme" has just finished near me. This has involved widening the road and resurfacing.
On the first wet day, it is apparent thet the surface is far from level, and there are large puddles due to inadequate drainage. These mostly seem to be adjacent to where the kerb is lowered for crossings.

Can anyone point me to a document containing a required standard of completion for new works ( if there is such a thing)?

Why would a level surface be capable of draining anyway?

[anonymous-user]

RyanOPlasty said:

On the first wet day, it is apparent that the surface is far from level, and there are large puddles due to inadequate drainage. These mostly seem to be adjacent to where the kerb is lowered for crossings.

Same outside the new Westgate shopping center in Oxford. Where the kerb drops for the pedestrian crossing the water pools between 1-2" in the road, giving anyone waiting to cross a soaking with every passing car. Makes no sense. Surely such lowered areas should have a drain.

IMHO the general standard of new roads, or resurfaced ones is poor in this country; never long before dips appear, parts crumble away, pot holes appear and the "rideability" always seems dodgy from the outset in that the road undulates up and down noticeably instead of being level (obv there needs to be a camber or slope to the side but I'm talking undulations in the direction of travel). Occasionally you come across a decent new road but most are not.

[Glasgowrob]

vehicles are a lot heavier now than 30 years ago putting a lot more strain on the roads. that said everything is done as quickly and cheaply as possible these days

[rog007]

MikeStroud said:

RyanOPlasty said:

On the first wet day, it is apparent that the surface is far from level, and there are large puddles due to inadequate drainage. These mostly seem to be adjacent to where the kerb is lowered for crossings.

Same outside the new Westgate shopping center in Oxford. Where the kerb drops for the pedestrian crossing the water pools between 1-2" in the road, giving anyone waiting to cross a soaking with every passing car. Makes no sense. Surely such lowered areas should have a drain.

IMHO the general standard of new roads, or resurfaced ones is poor in this country; never long before dips appear, parts crumble away, pot holes appear and the "rideability" always seems dodgy from the outset in that the road undulates up and down noticeably instead of being level (obv there needs to be a camber or slope to the side but I'm talking undulations in the direction of travel). Occasionally you come across a decent new road but most are not.

Newly laid road near me, now some 12 months old, not far from what it was like before. Truly shocking.

[Vlad the Imp]

What you’re describing is a lack of fall in the carriageway. Have a read of Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works, (MCHW) Volume 1, Series 700 and BS594987. Those 2 documents will tell you about the required longitudinal and transverse falls that should be built into the surfacing.

[RyanOPlasty]

Vlad the Imp said:

What you’re describing is a lack of fall in the carriageway. Have a read of Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works, (MCHW) Volume 1, Series 700 and BS594987. Those 2 documents will tell you about the required longitudinal and transverse falls that should be built into the surfacing.

Thanks Vlad, Just what I was looking for.