Road top surface being removed on loads on roads in Essex, why?

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,160
I've noticed that Essex county council have been doing lots of work on the roads around here. However I noticed the same thing happening about 5-10 miles away so it's not just confined to where I live.

Lots of roads have had the top surfaced removed so you are driving on the road with no markings and lots of gravel. The roads have been like it for a couple of weeks. It seems strange they have done this across the county rather than removing the surface of one road and replacing it, redoing the lines etc before moving on to the next location. I can think of 2 stretches which are easily longer than a mile. Very bizarre.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
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37,493
Location
Leafy Cheshire
Meh, beats the cheap, retarded way of "resurfacing" the roads that they are doing around here. Laying awful quality tar on top of the existing road surface, lay stonechip, let cars "roll" it.

Doesn't really help the longevity of the roads, lowers the ironwork in relation to the road surface, ruins paintwork and windscreens, looks cack, but hey, it uses up the budget.

:rolleyes:

Edit: Oh, and worst of all, in the incessant downpours we've been getting, it just means that it washes away into lovely "loose" gravel on troughs in the road surface. Great.
 
Last edited:

Xez

Xez

Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2005
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2,021
Location
Lincolnshire
Meh, beats the cheap, retarded way of "resurfacing" the roads that they are doing around here. Laying awful quality tar on top of the existing road surface, lay stonechip, let cars "roll" it.

Doesn't really help the longevity of the roads, lowers the ironwork in relation to the road surface, ruins paintwork and windscreens, looks cack, but hey, it uses up the budget.

:rolleyes:

Edit: Oh, and worst of all, in the incessant downpours we've been getting, it just means that it washes away into lovely "loose" gravel on troughs in the road surface. Great.

The estate that I live on has just had this done, what's more annoying is that the surface before was perfectly fine. I'd much rather roads that need to be resurfaced be done first and done properly instead of laying some stone chip.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Sep 2006
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2,781
Location
Hampshire
I wrote to the council about this and was told that it is a waterproof layer designed to stop the road from cracking, pushing repairs further into the future.

I think it's a load of crap. Has literally no benefit to the driver. It makes them slippery, noisy to drivers and residence, and it puts crap all over our cars.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2012
Posts
7,809
Just wait for a scorching hot few days (unlikely I know) where it starts to melt :rolleyes:

And when it gets cold and wet, the road is now like ice and the slightest error will result in an out of control skid.

We had this some 15 years ago. It got to the point where every time it rained somebody would end up upside down in the front garden.

We actually had three dead cars (fortunately no dead people) in a single day.

(Saying to the recovery blokes "Hang on, there will be another one along in a minute!")

(Also, phone conversation at the time to LA reporting an accident earlier that day "Sorry Have to hang up now, we have just had another one. I do not know yet whether or not I am going to find a dead person in my front garden"! )

As far as the LA was concerned, because we hadn't actually had any dead people there wasn't actually a problem!

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2013
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2,731
Location
derby
That will now happen every year until they do a real resurfacing job.

completely stupid way or resurfacing, the aggregate will slowly rub off and you are left with an ice rink

so expect it around this time every year
 
Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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2,165
Location
London
Last year my LA decided to stop repairing roads properly. First sign was the man in high-vis stamping cold-mix into potholes. Then we received a shiny brochure through the letterbox evangelising a revolutionary new surfacing system that only cost 1/3 the price of traditional resurfacing.

I was actually shocked both by the claim chip-seal was revolutionary and that it cost so much in comparison to resurfacing.

They did my road last summer and here are my findings one year on:

1) The road is still shedding gravel. I regularly have to sweep the stones off my drive and the LA occasionally send a road-sweeper vehicle round.

2) My car is constantly covered in stone dust from vehicles grinding up the gravel as they drive by.

3) When cars manoeuvre at low speed or turn the wheels when stationary it tears the surface up revealing sticky bitumen underneath.

4) Within the last month someone has already been by with a spray-can highlighting defects in the road surface in need of repair.

I will say it does appear to have mostly stopped the degradation of the road surface though I'm not confident over it's longevity.
 
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