what the hell is going on with our roads.

Hades said:
The roads in my area have gradually got worse over the years. It really is abysmal now. Part of the cause seems to be water money. For example a huge hole had to be repaired three times because of poor workmanship. Another pot hole n ended two repairs.

The council also added a huge island jutting out into the road by a bus a stop. It was completely unnecessary. Hardly anyone uses that stop and all it does is prevent two way traffic when a large vehicle comes the other way. It was a waste of money and inconveniences people. Another favourite waste of money is lowering speed limits everywhere near me. 60mph roads down a forest area reduced to 30mph for no reason. It all costs money to replace the speed limit signs, while the council then can't afford to fix horrendous pot holes everywhere.
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Maybe they figure it's cheaper to reduce the speed limit than fix the pothole on that road :cry: .
 
Greebo said:
This. It wont be helping. Every few years the wheels get bigger and more low profile. Used to be I got given an option of 18" or 19" wheels then 20 or 21" and now with the new model its 23" wheels. People like the "look" but its terrible for potholes or objects in the road. Ive killed two alloys in the last few years.
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Terrible for pot holes. Terrible for ride comfort. Terrible for efficiency. People are dumb though *shrug*.
 
Both my cars need tracking and I'm convinced it's the state of the roads round here. One of them we hit a very bad pothole in.
Constant road works round my way but the roads never get repaired. Instead it's utilities, new builds and layouts. The odd pot hole gets filled in by someone with the skills of a local ***** "who what does tarmac innit".
 
Roads round here are awful too. Craters everywhere. My 19" wheels hate it almost as much as I do.

I blew a tyre coming back from the south coast in the South downs last month on a pot hole the size of a coffin (in before, look where your going etc, it was dark, not lights, not even a moon!)

The ones they do fix are holes again in weeks.
 
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The council have gone out and dumped a temporary 40 sign on a local road as the potholes are so bad. Nice "solution" :/

But being the geniuses they are, they placed it before a junction exiting a 30 zone, so for people joining at that point it's still NSL.
 
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Hit and miss near me whether potholes I report are fixed, sometimes it's quite quick and other times they conclude it's not necessary. Often I find that it's 'not a priority but has been added to the schedule of works' and in a few weeks following is miraculously repaired.

I tend to report potholes shortly before I deem them to become a problem, though it seems these are too small to repair or not worth the effort. Which I expect then requires a larger more costly repair later on and no doubt has damaged someones vehicle in the interim.

My council tax increase correlates with how furiously I report potholes :p and I share the sentiment of being sick of permanently looking out for them.
 
I find it weird how some roads have a stretch of almost racetrack quality tarmac with no holes at all after years, but the rest of it is like a WRC course.

It's like some of the people the council pay to do this use the lowest quality materials possible, so they can come back next year and repair it...
 
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Been awful around here for months, some horrendous potholes that appear to have been marked and just left by the council. I thought I did my wheel on one a few weeks back, couldn't avoid it fully in time as I had a bus next to me, luckily the slow speed prevented damage. The next time I went past this particular one there was a collection of hubcaps next to it!
 
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Greebo said:
This. It wont be helping. Every few years the wheels get bigger and more low profile. Used to be I got given an option of 18" or 19" wheels then 20 or 21" and now with the new model its 23" wheels. People like the "look" but its terrible for potholes or objects in the road. Ive killed two alloys in the last few years.
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215/65 R16. A tough tyre for tough times.
 
Nasher said:
I find it weird how some roads have a stretch of almost racetrack quality tarmac with no holes at all after years, but the rest of it is like a WRC course.

It's like some of the people the council pay to do this use the lowest quality materials possible, so they can come back next year and repair it...
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I wonder if any of said shoddy contractors are friends or relatives of the council employees that hire them…
 
The problem with small wheels is they don't fit over modern discs a lot if the time. When I had my e92 M3 I believe the 330d of the newer generation had bigger discs :eek: .
 
Nasher said:
They would if they mounted the disks further in. Brakes got bigger because cars got more obese :/
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Manufacturers could always go to inboard discs, if they can figure out the packaging. La Citroën here has them at the front, but then the gearbox is ahead of the engine so it made that rather more straightforward...
 
Janesy B said:
It's horrendous, having to weave around like a drunk driver to avoid writing off my car.

This is the road for the main car park in my local town.

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That image shows part of the problem.

Councils contract out work and usually select the cheapest bid for the job. This means holes don't get repaired to the correct standard.
-> Tipping hot tar into a hole and pushing a roller over it a couple of times isn't enough. The section needs cutting out, relaying correctly (taking into account materials take a while to settle) and then sealing up the edges correctly.

Choosing the cheapest method means it'll need doing again, and repeat, until someone paid the correct amount for the job is selected, to do it properly.
 
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