Part of my driving today was M6/M5 junction south to Bristol. There were 4 sets of roadworks with narrowed lanes and 50 mph limits and specs (not in use on one section). On 2 sets of roadworks there was no sign of any activity - no diggers, no workmen, nothing but cones. On one set there were 2 workmen half hidden by a crash barrier just standing there chatting. On the other there were 6 workmen each with a spade seemingly digging up the central crash barrier.
It's very frustrating!! all these hol-ups and little going on!
Went up to Edinburgh last week (A50, M6, A/M74, A 701) and there were 14 sets of roadworks from Stoke to Carlisle, some with 50 mph limits, some without: some with specs cameras and some without. The common feature was that very little work seemed to be going on.
Why???!!! If they are going to set up cones (by the million!), cameras and narrow lanes why don't they get on with it???
And having got on with it (M1 roadworks J25 to J28) and having seemingly finished it why don't they get rid of the speed limit and cones??
Rant over! Sorry - bad day today!!
Phil
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On the A55 the other week there was a 50mph restriction down the hill by Rhuallt.
This was for roadworks, which were being actively engaged in .
But ! They were on the other side of the dual carriageway and in the nearside lane.
There was a whopping big concrete barrier down the central reservation and then two clear lanes before the works.
Nothing at all on the westbound track, which I was on. Mad !
Ted
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Did I mention elsewhere we are having gas relaid in our residential road? 11 weeks, starting a week ago (Monday)
Last week the only thing to happen all week was a low loader delivered a load of yellow pipe to various points around the estate. Today some traffic lights have gone in at junctions, and some bit of pavement have been coned off.
I suspect that where there are different teams involved, they leave large amounts of contingency times between them, so that late starts do not impact the remainder of the work.
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I do wonder why there are speed limits when there are no workmen around. Perhaps it is that they just can't be bothered to up the speed limit when nobody is working, but I wonder if there are logistical and safety problems.
Perhaps individuals do need to enter those areas on an ad-hoc basis and that it would be too difficult to coordinate, and perhaps dangerously confusing to road users, to keep switching the speed limits within those areas.
They seem to normally use painted speed signs, which obviously would be tricky to keep changing, so maybe it would be easier with electronic signs but, again, maybe there are concerns with swapping the speed limits around.
Along with all of this it would seem that, according to this article, there are 3 times as many people working at night, which is perhaps also why the roadworks seem so deserted during the day.
tinyurl.com/yg75xez
Maybe I am naive, but it would be nice to think that there was more to it than laziness.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Tue 2 Mar 10 at 02:25
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There are several stretches of roadworks and 50mph limits on the A1(M) in North Yorkshire/County Durham.
If the men are apparently not working, many drivers ignore the 50mph speed limit.
Which makes a moving road traffic hazard out of those of us who are inclined to stick to the limit.
I can see the speeding drivers' argument, but part of the hazard of the roadworks is the plant and machinery, which is there if the men are working or not.
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smoke, you'll perhaps not be surprised how quick the gas main itself can be replaced. They shut off the supply and force the new yellow pipe inside the older pipe. They do this in sections between points they can shut off. They then need to reconnect every house to the new main. Hence needing to do it in sections.
I bet it's the same teams of people that did our area over the last few years! They only recently finished up here. But the whole country needs doing.
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In the US normal speed limits apply when no one working. However, should you break the imposed speed limit with workers there the penalties are automatically doubled. Makes sense to me.
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Sorry to harp on about this but .......... today took car from E Midlands to Carlisle and then one from North of Perth back to E Midlands (59 plate 997 Turbo!!!! lovely!!) - M1, A50, A500, M6, A/M74 etc and went past goodness knows how many sets of roadworks (20?? 30??) and the only one where any work was going on was on A73 South of Stirling, N of Glasgow. Now admittedly I went up v. early and down fairly late in the day but if they are doing work, where is the machinery??? Ironically, there was one mini digger as the only bit of machinery on one section which had its flashing orange light going, no driver - must have been left on all night!!.......... wish I had a penny for every cone I've been past today!!!
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Had to look at a car near Piccadilly station which had a small problem then get over to Deansgate to collect one for safety recall. Most of the roads I wanted to use had some sort of work going on and I was channelled back to where I started. Trying a different route, I arrived near to my bus lane incident and was forced to make a right turn, in the opposite direction from my destination and drive a good distance out of my way, including into another city, to get where I wanted. Madness !
On my way into town I was approaching some lights in a line of cars when they changed to red for me. I stopped on the line, indicating a right turn when a BMW came up along my offside, also indicating right.........only thing was, we weren't in a one way street. I opened my window and getured him to reverse but he ignored me. Sure enough a van came round from the right into our road and came nose on to him. he still didn't reverse, fouling the whole crossroads up....turnip !!
Ted
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...one from North of Perth back to E Midlands (59 plate 997 Turbo!!!! lovely!!)...
Phil,
I'm surprised the trade/private owner of the 997 is happy to see that amount of miles putting on the car.
Just curious as to how your job works.
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Yep, very odd jbif. 997 had done less than 3000 miles and I did 400 of them! Asked the guy at dealers I dropped it at this morning and he said it was not unusual - they had just bought one with only 900 miles on the clock. He said it was because they (the seller) didn't lose any money on them (selling for as much/more than original purchase price?) and he could resell them quickly - he already had a buyer. He was busy so didn't have time to ask him any more about it. And I guess that there is not much difference between a Nov 2009 reg 997 with 2700 miles on it and 3100?
As for how the job works, I just get emails on Blackberry telling me where to pick up and drop cars - could be anything! Couple of weeks ago I had a Bentley Continental GT and then a StreetKA! The next day dropped the StreetKa, picked up a Jag XKR and next car was a Yaris.
Often asked what my favourite car is and the answer is "The one that gets me home"! The Yaris was my favourite that day!! Saved me a £50 train fare home!
Phil
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>> Yep very odd jbif.
Do you know something we don't?
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There are some people on here I wouldn't mind being mistaken for, and there are....:)
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Oops! Sorry ifithelps - another long day - brain can't cope!
Regards
Phil
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Roadworks rant! - Ted
