My head's beginning to hurt

[Whippy]

They have had weather in France, the roads? Butter smooth.

[OV4]

Originally Posted by Grimble

I take your point but blaming the weather is no excuse. Poor quality road design and construction, coupled with penny pinching maintenance and repair are the culprits.
With all the technology and material science at our disposal are we really admitting that building a road surface that lasts is beyond us?

I agree that we under-spend on our roads in this country. That’s why I highlighted the very substantial gap between VED / fuel duty reciepts and road spending.

Just that I think that British weather and the relatively crowded road network (road miles / unit of population) means the roads deteriorate faster than they might elsewhere.

[Grimble]

Originally Posted by OV4

I agree that we under-spend on our roads in this country. That’s why I highlighted the very substantial gap between VED / fuel duty reciepts and road spending.

Just that I think that British weather and the relatively crowded road network (road miles / unit of population) means the roads deteriorate faster than they might elsewhere.

Agreed they might deteriorate faster. The answer is to build them to a higher standard in the first place, in anticipation of the traffic load and weather.

Might be an idea as well not to run utilities under roads (which idiot thought that one up?), digging up makes the surface weaker, no matter how good the repair. As well as the hazard of manholes, another weak point. You dont see any on motorways, do you?

[OV4]

Originally Posted by Grimble

Agreed they might deteriorate faster. The answer is to build them to a higher standard in the first place, in anticipation of the traffic load and weather.

Might be an idea as well not to run utilities under roads (which idiot thought that one up?), digging up makes the surface weaker, no matter how good the repair. As well as the hazard of manholes, another weak point. You dont see any on motorways, do you?

Higher quality road surfaces would be great. It’s almost as though there’s a British mentality that says ‘we can’t make the roads too good or people will enjoy using them’.

I live not far from the south circular - one of London’s major arteries - and I’ve seen better road surfaces on side streets in Middle Eastern towns. It’s a complete joke, and makes bus and cycle travel actively unpleasant. Not so bad in the car as that insulates me better from the worst of the potholes, patches, and ironwork - but aren’t we supposed to be making non-car-travel more appealing (or at least less unappealing)?

Not running utilities under roads would be a good start.

[green van man]

Yesterday on the A487T watched as council wagon pulled up,2 lads got out, spray paint hole, fill with cold tar, drive back wheel of truck over the tar twice, spray repair and move on to the next.

Not a whacker plate, or even a punner or brush in sight. Instant tar can give a durable repair but it needs to be well punned into the hole to have any chance.

Paul.

[OV4]

Originally Posted by green van man

Not a whacker plate, or even a punner or brush in sight. Instant tar can give a durable repair but it needs to be well punned into the hole to have any chance.

Quite a few holes have been patched like that on the roads near me. It’s fine for a bit but then the new tar ‘creeps’ over one side of the pothole leaving the road surface uneven.

It’s not so noticeable when I’m driving but it’s unpleasant when I’m cycling.