what the hell is going on with our roads.

cheesefest said:
Councils should understand prevention is cheaper than cure. Hardly seen a drain clearing van. They need to be cleaned out as full of rubbish, leaves, sediment etc. Clearing out the drains is cheaper than repairing a flood damaged road. Plus, depending on location of road, the cost of temporary signs, temporary traffic lights etc.

Then the councils or contractors don't bother to pick up the road signs up afterwards. As a litter womble, my group have found countless of temporary road signs in ditches etc. Most of them are universal and can be used in other roadworks - road closed, diversion (with a movable arrow), roadworks etc. Due to the length of time they are in the ditch etc they are beyond use plus got damaged by a lorry driving over it.

More of our money wasted. Cost of sign and a frame is £60-£100, depending on size etc.
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I do have sympathy for them though when they have so little money available to spend. It is logical to spend on preventative work or even to fix potholes when they are small rather than wait until they become big as they cost more to fix but they dont have enough money to fix all the potholes they should do never mind to do preventative work. In the long run doing preventative work would be cheaper but somebody has to give the extra money for that.

Same with roads which are so bad they need relaying as a new road. I know a few years back that my local council spent money assessing the worst roads each year and only the top few got relaid as that was all they could afford. The road my parents lived on remained tin the top 25 worst condition roads for over 30 years before it got to the top of the list and got replaced. It was just a hatch work of pot holes.
 
Greebo said:
I do have sympathy for them though when they have so little money available to spend. It is logical to spend on preventative work or even to fix potholes when they are small rather than wait until they become big as they cost more to fix but they dont have enough money to fix all the potholes they should do never mind to do preventative work. In the long run doing preventative work would be cheaper but somebody has to give the extra money for that.

Same with roads which are so bad they need relaying as a new road. I know a few years back that my local council spent money assessing the worst roads each year and only the top few got relaid as that was all they could afford. The road my parents lived on remained tin the top 25 worst condition roads for over 30 years before it got to the top of the list and got replaced. It was just a hatch work of pot holes.
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What about contractors not picking up the various road signs and cones once the work is complete? If we hired something and return it, the company does a check list and if things are missing or damaged, we get charged for it. Either deducting deposit or charging a fee,
 
cheesefest said:
What about contractors not picking up the various road signs and cones once the work is complete? If we hired something and return it, the company does a check list and if things are missing or damaged, we get charged for it. Either deducting deposit or charging a fee,
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I suppose if its the contractors then that will just come out of their profits. Some staff are really slapdash esp when it comes to other peoples property. My mate was working on a site doing a specialist job for subcontractors working on their bit. They finished their bit and left and he got two full boxes of assorted screws and a 48W dewalt hammer drill which they had left behind.

Sadly that is the calibre of staff you get nowadays. you wont believe how many ladders and wheelbarrows we have to buy every year to replace "lost" ones. And yes signs and barriers mysteriously disappear all of the time sadly. Frustrating and such a waste of resources and money.
 
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cheesefest said:
One problem with the latest pot hole patching is that the contractors clear off and able to drive on it within an hour. Would leaving it barriered off help with the longevity?
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Depends. If doing them properly then 24 hours would be advisable. But chances are they are only being done the cheap way and it wont make much difference to that. Its a temporary fill only expected to last a year or two before needing to be done again. But thats somebody elses problem by then.
 
Greebo said:
terrible on the A66 atm. Even in my SUV i cant see at some of the roads when pulling out. Sure to be another accident and fatality soon.
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the vegetation is some trade-off of safety versus nesting bird habitat destruction, I thought, but,
proximity probably exacerbates hay-fever/pollen related inattention too (probably need to look at the pollen filter)

even with high vegetation, many people still don't open up bends by moving to other side of road to see further around bend - crossing road centre is interdite
 
Greebo said:
I suppose if its the contractors then that will just come out of their profits. Some staff are really slapdash esp when it comes to other peoples property. My mate was working on a site doing a specialist job for subcontractors working on their bit. They finished their bit and left and he got two full boxes of assorted screws and a 48W dewalt hammer drill which they had left behind.

Sadly that is the calibre of staff you get nowadays. you wont believe how many ladders and wheelbarrows we have to buy every year to replace "lost" ones. And yes signs and barriers mysteriously disappear all of the time sadly. Frustrating and such a waste of resources and money.
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We have found various contractors stuff - as well as the signs, when wombling. New drill cases and tool boxes (though empty) a few wombles have taken these home with them, hard hats, boots. Then there’s the builder’s stuff like driver’s tizer - bottles of p!ss, various food and drink packaging etc
 
watching some le-mans in car footage - one of these rear view mirrors would be a nice piece of safety tech (especially on new polestar)
was wondering what tech they might hand down


A 4K eurosport subscription would add to the drama
 
MissChief said:
Yet some junctions intentionally block visibility to ensure drivers have to slow down. It's especially prevalent at junctions with motorway Slip roads and roundabouts.
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At the moment lots of verges are so over grown you cannot see any signs its really dangerous if you do not know the road!
 
We had torrential rain yesterday evening which flooded many roads in the area. Wouldn't been as bad if councils actually cleaned out the drains. Drains get clogged up with leaves, rubbish and sediment. Surely its cheaper for them to clean out the drains than the cost of hiring contractors to repair damaged roads. Plus depending on locations of the damage, putting out temp traffic lights, road closures and diversions.

Plus annoy the hell for drivers.
 
Constant caps on council spending, cap on increasing council tax, tory pledges of billions that then get robbed for something else. Only enough funding to repair 48% of all potholes.

Who is to blame?

I'd be happy to pay an extra £20 a month on my council tax if it was ring-fenced to the roads. But then there would be the other half of motorists and road users whining on about road works and traffic lights everywhere...
 
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Yaayuh! said:
I've always said this about council tax rises, I'm happy to pay more if I see the return. But I never do, in fact, It seems like we're paying more for less each time.
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Thats how the system has been set up though with the caps. Every year, even with the maximum council tax rises allowed, councils are faced with what they are going to cut in real terms as they have a smaller budget so no chance they can afford to do more pot holes, it becomes less and less. perhaps the cap should be removed but then would people be happy if their council tax went up 50% in one year?
 
cuke2u said:
Constant caps on council spending, cap on increasing council tax, tory pledges of billions that then get robbed for something else. Only enough funding to repair 48% of all potholes.

Who is to blame?

I'd be happy to pay an extra £20 a month on my council tax if it was ring-fenced to the roads. But then there would be the other half of motorists and road users whining on about road works and traffic lights everywhere...
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I agree. it's a toughie the roads should never have gotten this bad and now they have it's gonna be a devil of a job

I think my dad had some gardening mantra for 1 year you are lame you have 7 years of pain and that may be true here.
what would help is when they DO make repairs however at least do it properly ... not the half assed job that seems to be done.

also when utilities dig the road up .. at least organise with all of them. the bottom of our road was dug up multiple times and when I asked it turned out it was for different things. laying new electric cable, laying new gas or what ever....... (and they always do a shocking job of patching up after
final mini rant ;). speed bumps. they were installed on a road near me and next to every single one is now a pot hole that can't be a coincidence so it would seem in installing the speed bumps the integrity of the road has been compromise. add to that the locals hate them because they are noisy and they are usless anyway. my car has a wide enough wheelbase to totally straddle them (my wife's doesn't and they work then I guess) but if I wanted I could still barrel it down the road and not hit a bump.

oh and last night I noticed damage to my tyre. I can't prove it of course but I have not hit any kerbs. so that's gonna be £250 for a new tyre I imagine. (if I go middle of the road brand. not putting guang dong ditch finders on it)
 
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