Road quality

Lopéz · 2 Dec 2011 at 22:19

pepsilol said:
Go to a third world country and appreciate what you have.

No need to go that far. Rural France will do. Or Italy. Or Greece. Or Turkey. Or Poland. Or Slovakia. Our roads are pretty bloody good on the overall scale.

Lopéz · 2 Dec 2011 at 22:20

Trifid said:
I found the motorways in Holland fairly rough, it was very noticeable driving between France and Holland.

I found Italy the same, the Autostrada is erm, average and the non-Autostrada trunk roads are pretty awful compared to most of our dual carriageways.

mjt · 2 Dec 2011 at 22:22

Skillmister said:
Is it just me or is there far more road noise on UK motorways than on french motorways *in general, not all the time!* Always seems much much louder when you pop out of the tunnel back to blighty.

Concrete v asphalt.

Trifid said:
I found the motorways in Holland fairly rough, it was very noticeable driving between France and Holland.

What, Belgium?

Overlag · 3 Dec 2011 at 00:30

mufc802 said:
Just views of random roads. Most in Holland have a cycle path completely separate from the road which is actually as good a quality as the road. I'm not going to appreciate what I have because quite frankly, the cycle paths in this country are p*ss poor or sometimes non at all.

Typical examples:
http://i41.tinypic.com/e3wq9.png
http://i42.tinypic.com/4ptnae.png

our road looks better of the two out of those photos? :confused:

PMKeates · 3 Dec 2011 at 00:31

Hyburnate said:
xD What do you buy then?

I grow all of my own vegetables in an allotment.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL no my mum buys them.

Jonny ///M · 3 Dec 2011 at 00:48

I cycle a road bike with skinny tyres around every day so I understand just how bad a road can be.

I'd say a small percentage of my commute has really bad roads and it's usually just one section if that.

In the last few weeks just about every road I commute on has been resurfaced to a very high standard and I can actually roll faster on it as a result. I'd say around 9 miles of road has been resurfaced and it was completed efficiently and without too much of an effect on commuters as they are main roads between East Kilbride and Glasgow city centre.

breadturbo · 3 Dec 2011 at 01:11

if you want road noise, try the end of the M180 toward Grimsby where it turns to the A180, concrete and LOUD is not the word.

Simon · 3 Dec 2011 at 02:54

[TW]Fox;20706584 said:
People whinging about roads is a particular bugbear of mine. We have it far better than people will ever care to admit.

We have a fantastic universal system of road signs, we have an excellent motorway network, we have excellent road markings and on the whole we have pretty decent road surfaces.

Thats right, pretty decent road surfaces.

I have driven thousands of miles in both the USA and Australia and compared to here, the roads are an order of magnitude worse. You will often encounter potholes you could almost park a motorbike in on the Interstates, on offramps and onramps and on city streets. The signposting is nothing like as good as it is over here, either. I am genuinelly amazed that anyone in either of those countries can tolerate anything with low profile tyres the roads are that bad. Every time I made a right or a left turn in Rockhampton, QL, I smacked the front bumper of my completely bog standard saloon car on the enormous dips at the side of the road.

Yes, some countries in Europe are lucky enough to have effortless, smooth and sweeping roads but we are far, far, far from having the worst. We just dont realise how good we have it, frankly. Plus we love to whinge about everything.

Agreed, there is a pothole on my morning commute that is the size of a wheel and about 6inchs deep! Some of the US roads are awful.

Go drive elsewhere before complaining about the Uk roads (the standard of dirving is pretty good in the Uk too!)

Berger · 3 Dec 2011 at 06:08

Roads are excellent in the UK compared to Australia.

Here there is little design put into the original road building, only a very thin layer of asphalt laid onto the ground or compacted local gravel ontop of the ground. However it is a lot quicker to build a road this way, and in a lot of places the roads seem very little traffic.

Lots of roads being upgraded with proper design or being patched regularly because of this.

Dogbreath · 3 Dec 2011 at 09:04

[TW]Fox;20706584 said:
People whinging about roads is a particular bugbear of mine. We have it far better than people will ever care to admit.

We have a fantastic universal system of road signs, we have an excellent motorway network, we have excellent road markings and on the whole we have pretty decent road surfaces.

Thats right, pretty decent road surfaces.

Agreed when talking about our major roads, they are pretty good (albeit prone to sections being coned off for months with invisible workers performing maintenance). However, smaller roads both in rural and city areas are shockingly poor in places, partly due to a cheapskate policy of sprinkling chippings onto a layer of hot tar which is destroyed within months.

Lopéz · 3 Dec 2011 at 09:52

Simon said:
Agreed, there is a pothole on my morning commute that is the size of a wheel and about 6inchs deep! Some of the US roads are awful.

Go drive elsewhere before complaining about the Uk roads (the standard of dirving is pretty good in the Uk too!)

Americans are constantly amazed at the driving standards (skill, speed, courtesy, discipline) when they visit the UK.

George Hincapie · 3 Dec 2011 at 12:00

Lopéz said:
No need to go that far. Rural France will do. Or Italy. Or Greece. Or Turkey. Or Poland. Or Slovakia. Our roads are pretty bloody good on the overall scale.

I spent 2 weeks in rural France this summer while following the Tour de France. Was out on my road bike every day. The roads there (Brittany) were much, much better than ours.

It's a nonsensical argument to say 'Don't complain about our roads because they are worse in X.Y, and Z country'. The simple fact is that, as motorists, we fill the Government coffers to a ridiculous scale every year; surely it's not too much to ask to expect roads to be smooth, pot hole free (or damage to be made good promptly) and well marked and maintained?

UK road surfaces are crap. Why pretend otherwise?

[TW]Fox · 3 Dec 2011 at 12:02

George Hincapie said:
I spent 2 weeks in rural France this summer while following the Tour de France. Was out on my road bike every day. The roads there (Brittany) were much, much better than ours.

It's a nonsensical argument to say 'Don't complain about our roads because they are worse in X.Y, and Z country'. The simple fact is that, as motorists, we fill the Government coffers to a ridiculous scale every year; surely it's not too much to ask to expect roads to be smooth, pot hole free (or damage to be made good promptly) and well marked and maintained?

What are the typical traffic loadings on roads in rural france?

What are the typical traffic loadings on roads in the UK?

Are the roads in Paris billiard smooth?

UK road surfaces are crap. Why pretend otherwise?

Because they are not crap, they are really rather good, all things considered.

Simon · 3 Dec 2011 at 12:03

They aren't crap in the general scale. Sure some countries are better but many are far worse. Plus it depends on local councils. Reading have just resurfaced a lot of roads so these are now like rural France.

RockLobster · 3 Dec 2011 at 12:44

Fox will probably back this up but the other thing I found in the US is when you enter a parking area (parking lots) for supermarkets, etc there was a massive dip in the road. Even in a Mustang I would have to take it easy otherwise the front end would hit the road. How they drive S2000s over there I don't know.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=150...gG-e1duN62fFobTMxDi8DQ&cbp=12,172.15,,0,16.67 - This is a example it doesn't look to bad but you have to take it easy.

Overlag · 3 Dec 2011 at 13:37

George Hincapie said:
UK road surfaces are crap. Why pretend otherwise?

they are great compared to some places, plus roads are for cars, all these cycle lanes sitting there empty are a WASTE of SPACE and money.

Kenai · 3 Dec 2011 at 13:43

Overlag said:
they are great compared to some places, plus roads are for cars, all these cycle lanes sitting there empty are a WASTE of SPACE and money.

A cold is great compared to bird flu but that doesn't make it a good thing objectively

George Hincapie · 3 Dec 2011 at 14:41

[TW]Fox;20710206 said:
What are the typical traffic loadings on roads in rural france?

I haven't the time to do research for you, sorry. If you really wanted to compare figures, then I'm sure the data will exist on the web somewhere.

What are the typical traffic loadings on roads in the UK?

Again, have a look on the Internet. The data must be there.

Are the roads in Paris billiard smooth?

Any capital city is not going to be perfect. Remember that France is much bigger than the UK, more roads, more cost and they still do a better job. Puts the UK to shame really.

Because they are not crap, they are really rather good, all things considered.

Let's agree to disagree.

George Hincapie · 3 Dec 2011 at 14:52

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think it would be interesting to compare how much France and the UK raise in road taxes and how much of that is actually spent maintaining and improving the road infrastructure.

I don't believe the French have a direct 'road tax', but instead the owners of the toll roads pay a percentage (<10%) to the Government. I'll see if the oracle that is Google has any answers.

Lopéz · 3 Dec 2011 at 15:52

George Hincapie said:
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think it would be interesting to compare how much France and the UK raise in road taxes and how much of that is actually spent maintaining and improving the road infrastructure.

I don't believe the French have a direct 'road tax', but instead the owners of the toll roads pay a percentage (<10%) to the Government. I'll see if the oracle that is Google has any answers.

We don't pay "road tax" we pay Vehicle Excise Duty. There hasn't been any sort of link between VED and Government spending on the road infrastructure in the UK since the 1930's.