The South's local authorities would need to spend an average of £66m to fix all the potholes on their roads. The latest figures show that it would take around 21 years for all the potholes to be fixed. On average, each authority filled nearly 13,000 potholes last year.
tinyurl.com/d3emdt9 - www.itv.com/news/meridian
tinyurl.com/ck9tomj - www.itv.com/news/meridian
|
>> each authority filled nearly 13,000 potholes last year.
There are a lot of bad potholes in our drive, so bad that the newspaper delivery person has cried 'Enough!'
The drive is surfaced with earth, tarmac, hardcore and a few bits of concrete, a real patchwork. I've been waddling up and down with wheelbarrow loads of gravel and shingle, filling them up. It's difficult anyway, and more so when they are full of water. And there's the problem of stabilizing the gravel etc. when it's in the holes. Some of them are so huge they take a whole barrowload.
What with the intellectual and physical challenge, I may not last all that long. Meanwhile I am going to have to walk several hundred yards for the comic before making coffee in the morning.
Has anyone heard of the teenage craze for 'binning'? The contents of two big recycling bins were allegedly scattered down the quiet country road that passes us this morning - broken glass, newspapers, the lot. I didn't see the mess myself but apparently it caused an unprecedented queue of cars this morning before I got up.
Nowhere is safe these days. Fallow deer are massing in the woods in a threatening way. They pretend to be nervous but I don't believe them. Once they've finished their training and fettled their weapons they will attack.
|
|
At the present rate of progress Lincolnshire will take 50 years! A Major problem is holes and crumbling at the edges of minor roads. Very deep, often full of water so depth not evident, and damaging.
|
You should all come to Blackpool.Project 30(as the council call it) has been underway for a year now and alot of major roads have been completely resurfaced.They are doing the whole of the Blackpool area over the next 2 years.I must say its really nice to drive on the new roads!.(Just thought i'd rub it in!)
|
Part of the problem is that either from lack of money or loss of the inherited expertise of centuries councils do not now repair holes properly. There are enumerable patches in our local roads which were "repaired" last year but are again eroding fast.
It's like trying to repair an old car with body filler when it is rusting faster than you can patch it.
I don't believe it's lack of money. Our local councils have bags of money for pointless "improvement" schemes, needlessly straightening out bends, widening roads that carry very little traffic, putting in a roundabout in the middle of nowhere just to irritate drivers on what was a clear road.
But obviously there is no fun for qualified road engineers in mending potholes, so they give the job to Dai and Evan and send them out with a lorry load of soft tarmac and a shovel with instuctions to patch up any holes they find. The objective is to spend their budget to the full so that they keep their bloated departments, and very little to do with maintaining the nation's lifelines.
|
|
As I am retired, have no reason to rush about, my annual mileage has dropped off, and our area is infested with both potholes and speed bumps, traffic calming, lanes painted out for no apparent reason, and perfectly functional roundabouts disrupted with traffic lights, my next and probably last motor is going to be a Chelsea tractor.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 15 Mar 13 at 08:39
|
"You should all come to Blackpool."
Nice new road surfaces will still not stop it being the 'last resort'. And I'm being polite there :)
Last edited by: Fullchat on Fri 15 Mar 13 at 09:10
|
|
Blackpool is a very happy place - or is it gay? tinyurl.com/cjpnodj
|
|
Should be twinned with Brighton?
|
A few years ago the council filled the potholes on the lane outside my parent's farm. I sneaked out the night before the came and highlighted a few of the bigger holes on the drive with a can of white paint and drew a couple of arrows leading into the yard.
They filled one of them but then got suspicious and left the rest!
|
|
In the distant past I worked in a place where the odd pothole complaint would come our way. Always a can of yellow spray in the boot. Any time after lunch on a Friday then a ring of yellow was the "repair" of choice for anything less than a crater.
|
>>
>> They filled one of them but then got suspicious and left the rest!
>>
Great minds think alike!
It's almost irresistible wanting to try adding a bit more paint to see if you can bluff them.
It was tempting to see if I could get them to "adopt" my track and tarmc the whole lot, but settled in the end for just a few holes next to the road.
|
>> You should all come to Blackpool.Project 30(as the council call it) has been underway for
>> a year now and alot of major roads have been completely resurfaced.They are doing the
>> whole of the Blackpool area over the next 2 years.I must say its really nice
>> to drive on the new roads!.(Just thought i'd rub it in!)
>>
Is this another example of taxes earned in London & the South East being used to subsidise the great unwashed up north, whilst our roads crumble around us? ;-)
I have taken to driving the Transporter these days. With its steel wheels and commercial rated tyres it is far more resistant to potholes that might damage a fancy alloy wheel on a low-slung car.
|
>> You should all come to Blackpool.Project 30(as the council call it) has been underway for
>> a year now and alot of major roads have been completely resurfaced.They are doing the
>> whole of the Blackpool area over the next 2 years.I must say its really nice
>> to drive on the new roads!.(Just thought i'd rub it in!)
>>
>>
Yes, rub it in but who in the right minds would want to visit the dump that is Blackpool and its environs. I had been there many times in the past. My Southern sensibilities cannot elaborate on what I think of both Blackpool and Bispham and Knott End (sp?). Let's add to that, Morecambe as well.
|
>> You should all come to Blackpool.
No thank you, driving in Central London was less hassle.
Starting in the morning the prom closed for 10 days to sort out the total mess they made in the first place.
Driving in Blackpool, you can have it.
Last edited by: Webmaster on Mon 18 Mar 13 at 08:58
|
I can understand why it costs so much to fill in a hole. Its because the county's contractors botch it so the hole reappears within weeks.
I reported one that I pass everyday on my way to work that was so large and deep it was difficult to avoid even on the bicycle. Give them their due, they repaired it within 10 days of it being reported but they filled it with muesli and its crumbling once again around the repair.
|
Outside my house is/was a sunken Thames Water inspection cover in the middle of the carriageway (where else are these?). I reported this to www.fixmystreet.com and within a week or so some contractors came before midnight and slapped some tarmac on top of the metal cover and just about level with the surrounded surface and tamped it down, with their feet I believe.
I presume this bodge is a temporary measure but may not be. What ar.......s these people are.
|
>> I presume this bodge is a temporary measure but may not be. What ar.......s these
>> people are.
>>
Our lot are no better, I reported a partially collapsed drain, it was filled with asphalt 14 months ago so probably not a temporary repair. At least it is on a hill so any water runs down to the next drain.
|
cant remember the last time i saw a gully/drain cleaner.. the ones that suck up all the silt out the road drains.. probably why we have too many flooded roads these days, then the lying water freezes .. pot holes
|
>> cant remember the last time i saw a gully/drain cleaner.. the ones that suck up
>> all the silt out the road drains.. probably why we have too many flooded roads
>> these days, then the lying water freezes .. pot holes
>>
>>
I never see these nowadays and have complained to the council with little effect. I look at these drains and there is earth, silt right up to the tops of the grill often with weeds growing in the 'soil' there - it's disgraceful.
|
it was filled with
>> asphalt 14 months ago so probably not a temporary repair. At least it is on
>> a hill so any water runs down to the next drain.
>>
There are regular floods on a road near here caused by exactly this kind of repair.
There is a culvert running under a road, downhill, until it emerges from a bank at the side of the road. The culvert started collapsing a few years ago, so each year the council tip some more asphalt into the hole. The water in the culvert has nowhere to go so in heavy rain it bubbles out of the road and creates a new hole.
So the council come and fill the hole ...
|
|
Smiled yesterday when I drew up behind a car which had a sticker in rear screen saying "I'm not drunk Officer, I'm just avoiding potholes"
|
|
Potholes can only get filled in if the local authority knows about them. You can report those you come across (and other road-related problems) via www.fixmystreet.com/ It's easy and it works ~ well it does for me anyway.
|
>> Potholes can only get filled in if the local authority knows about them. You can
>> report those you come across (and other road-related problems) via www.fixmystreet.com/ It's easy and it
>> works ~ well it does for me anyway.
>>
Yes an excellent system, our council have a "Report a defect" function on their website for road defects, signs, streetlights, etc. which they do respond to. The problem is the quality of the road repairs which can only be called a "Bodge job".
|
|
Well I don't suppose we can't have cuts in public spending without there being consequences. I guess the plain fact is that we are going to have to live with a less well maintained road system than we were used to for the foreseeable future.
|
>> Well I don't suppose we can't have cuts in public spending without there being consequences.
>> I guess the plain fact is that we are going to have to live with
>> a less well maintained road system than we were used to for the foreseeable future.
>>
Spending a few billion less on other peoples wars would be a good place to save a few bob.
|
>> report those you come across (and other road-related problems) via www.fixmystreet.com/ It's easy and it works ~ well it does for me anyway.
That website is hit and miss. Most of the time all they seem to do around here is a temporary repair that needs fixing again in a few weeks time. There are at least half a dozen pot holes that I've had to report have failed again. Quite why they can't seem to do a proper repair in the first place is anyone's guess.
|
>> >> report those you come across (and other road-related problems) via www.fixmystreet.com/ It's easy and
>> it works ~ well it does for me anyway. Quite why they can't seem to do a proper repair in the first place is anyone's guess.
>>
Precisely. See my post above.
|
Not so concerned with potholes so much as the general appalling state of the road surface. I'm getting a new windscreen on the Insignia next week after it got cracked by a stone being thrown up by a passing car on the A41, where the surface is loose and degrading rapidly.
The week before it got two big stone chips. Wonder how long the new screen will last?
Also, do you have to declare windscreen replacements as a claim when renewing insurance? I hate to think how much this will cost, since it's a gen-yoo-ine Vauxhall heat reflective screen.
|
>> Also, do you have to declare windscreen replacements as a claim when renewing insurance?
It mentions it in my policy when asking for any claims or convictions in the last 3 yrs.
|
Is there an option of fitting a heavy-duty windscreen? It would be really useful in view of the increased level of general road debris.
Off road vehicles presumably have tougher screens - they would be chipped or shattered on every trip otherwise.
Is it true that older cars had tougher screens? I have had cars with their original unmarked windscreens 40 years old. Also the Volvo windscreen (21 years old) seems to shrug off stones without leaving a mark.
Are they made of more fragile material now?
|
>> >> report those you come across (and other road-related problems) via www.fixmystreet.com/ It's easy and
>> it works ~ well it does for me anyway.
>>
>> That website is hit and miss. Most of the time all they seem to do
>> around here is a temporary repair that needs fixing again in a few weeks time.
Don't blame fixmystreet.com. They merely pass your request for repairs onto the appropriate organisation. If potholes aren't filled in satisfactorily then it's the fault of your local authority. Why not contact them directly?
|
>> Why not
>> contact them directly?
>>
Even up here in the far flung frozen wastes of Scotland, (it is snowing at the moment), you can conduct most council business online. It works well too, for example a replacement wheelie bin delivered within 24 hours, streetlights fixed promptly, shame about the potholes though. :-)
|
>> Why not contact them directly?
Because they're almost as useless as the contractors they use to fill in the potholes.
|
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-21830349
Surrey County Council to speed up pothole repairs
A two-hour deadline for repairing dangerous potholes will remain.
|
>> >> Why not contact them directly?
>>
>> Because they're almost as useless as the contractors they use to fill in the potholes.
>>
Precisely - see above. Thames Water inspection cover (sunken) is now covered with tarmacadam to about road surface level but already sinking somewhat. Absolute goons, all of them.
|
Traffic safety policy announces all potholes to become ‘inverted speed bumps’
tinyurl.com/btmfqjd - www.newsbiscuit.com
(take with a pinch of salt)
|
Village access road closed over weekend hopefully to facilitate repair of the numerous potholes along a 2mile stretch.
Northants are pretty good at responding to urgent stuff reported by phone. A blocked gully I reported on Monday is scheduled for repair witihn five days and I can view progress on the website.
|
Potholes will take over 20 years to fix - Armel Coussine
