Noticed how many there were last week on my trip to and from Wales along the M4... but yesterday did my regular trip to IL's in Folkestone along the M20.
Man that road has suddenly got bad!
I spent both of the legs watching mostly the road surface, the potholes where everywhere and really long/deep, the inside lane seems to be worse and even the long concrete sections have been affected, it made the trip very unpleasant, hate to think what it would be like at night or wet.
I was very temped to spend the journey in lane two to avoid them.
I guess the large volume of coastal HGV traffic might have increased the wear on the road, it seemed that a pattern of patches corresponded to where a lorries ABS might have activated probably causing the initial weakness in the surface.
How would you go about repairing such a large number over nearly the whole length of the M20? do they do spot repairs at night or do full resurfacing?
As I said not a nice trip and I dread to think how many punctures have been caused by hitting a big one at speed.
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Some very large (deep and long) potholes on the M6. In the 50mph section from junction 19 down to say 16 is pretty bad. Went into a pretty big one back in January.... slowed down a bit but impossible to change lanes because of the traffic. And it was big enough you couldn't move over even a little bit.
Last weekend I think that particular one had been fixed (for now).
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Interesting because I drove to the Chunnel on the M20 exactly 2 weeks ago via M25 North. Did not notice that it was particularly bad. The traffic was VERY light at 07.30 (Sunday), so was using lane 1 most of the time, at 65-70mph and normally I am very conscious of poor road surface.
The Berlingo has proper wheels and tyres - not large diameter rubber bands - what car were you using?
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We're off to see rellies in a little village near Rugby next week. In view of what Rob says about the M6, I might go Stockport, Baslow, Chesterfield and pick up the M1. No guarantees about the road conditions, of course, but it's a nicer journey and I won't need a tenner for the return toll road fees. Not too bothered about the potholes with the big tyres on the RAV4 but there's a few places on that route to get a decent lunch.
Manchester derby match on Saturday.......I hope me cousin's got Sky. No chance of getting Radio Manchester there, I suppose !
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>>
>> Manchester derby match on Saturday.......I hope me cousin's got Sky. No chance of getting >>Radio Manchester there, I suppose !
>>
....you can on't Tinternet (if you have the tech and a connection to access it).
www.bbc.co.uk/radiomanchester
(though, as with all Iplayer stuff now, you'll have to sign-in to the BBC)
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I found the M20 journey home worse, especially at the junctions, particularly the Maidstone and Ashford ones.
I'm usually on my own but yesterday the Golf was fully loaded with four adults so maybe I felt it more.
Never felt the need in the past to actively try and avoid the holes on a motorway but this was noticeably different, as I said if it had been dark or the holes filled with water I would never have seen them coming.
My main query was about repairing them.. obviously on a local street it's not a big deal but on a motorway I guess even a small hole could potentially cause a big issue.
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But if they are due to water ingress and then expansion when it freezes, patch repairs won't last long on a motorway.
Around our way the A roads are also very bad in places. It's going to cost a lot to fix all of these.
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Same here, the roads are noticeably worse than I remember in the 5 or 6 years I've lived here. And these are just b roads, some are starting to crumble away at the edges.
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>> (though, as with all Iplayer stuff now, you'll have to sign-in to the BBC)
>>
Why is that?
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....one suspects that they wish to harvest some data.....
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">> Manchester derby match on Saturday.......I hope me cousin's got Sky. No chance of getting >>Radio Manchester there, I suppose !
....you can on't Tinternet (if you have the tech and a connection to access it)."
I can get Radio Leicester on the internet but nowadays the internet broadcast of Leicester City match commentaries has been replaced by a repeated message saying "the current programme cannot be broadcast on the internet for contractual reasons". All is not lost, however, because the Leicester City official website now broadcasts a live commentary; maybe one or both of the Manchester clubs have a similar arrangement.
If you are stuck without a live commentary, there might be something on R5L for this match and, if you can't find anything, there's always the 'live-text' on the BBC Sport's website.
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I'll bear all those points in mind, thanks. I suspect they will have Sky or BT as they are all sport mad. They particularly favour Rugby and Cricket though.
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I report potholes on www.fixmystreet.com/
If there's not a convenient house number opposite, it's difficult.
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>> I report potholes on www.fixmystreet.com/
I've found that site to be a complete waste of time.
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>> I've found that site to be a complete waste of time.
Agree. Reporting them to the County's 'Street Doctor' OTOH was usually very effective. Whether that's still case now Northamptonshire has declared itself effectively bankrupt is another question.
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Is it ever going to get any better, or has the system broken down? In the 70s we could apparently afford libraries and roadsweepers, and the roads and pavements were in much better nick, certainly where I lived. We had local hospitals, and police stations everywhere.
Have other, new, services completely drained public finances, are the authorities stupidly inefficient, or is it just effectively impossible to collect enough tax to do things properly?
Is it to do with people living too long, or are the developed countries just 'undeveloping' as the rest of the world catches up and stops subsidising us with ludicrously cheap labour and commodities?
It does seem to be chronic, and getting worse. And it started before the financial crisis and B....t.
How the hell can FB be 'worth' $500,000,000,000, and is it connected? It represents somebody's wealth, but is it usefully employed?
I expect Z will explain it. Or maybe I'll ask Alexa.
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>> How the hell can FB be 'worth' $500,000,000,000, and is it connected? It represents somebody's
>> wealth, but is it usefully employed?
>> I expect Z will explain it. Or maybe I'll ask Alexa.
FB is only worth what anyone thinks its worth. It has no intrinsic value, it pays no taxes, it invests not much into society, it has no plant material or infrastructure, it only has information, information that is valued highly by someone but Information that is fluid and its currency is limited. It can and will disappear and collapse in short order, just a matter of when.
Yes its connected to lack of social investment and indirectly potholes. The economy is cyber, the holes are physical, the interface is poor.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 2 Apr 18 at 12:26
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>> Is it ever going to get any better, or has the system broken down?
>> Have other, new, services completely drained public finances, are the authorities stupidly inefficient, or is
>> it just effectively impossible to collect enough tax to do things properly?
Difficult to answer that without looking at LA finances and their history in terms of central grant v local income which I've no got time to do. While there will be inefficiency any gains to be made by now will be (IMO) small and incremental. Locally both Council and District have moved to shiny new premises. While it's easy to portray that as profligate the District was in a place from seventies reorganisation of local govt. Expensive to heat, maintain and cable for modern power/data requirements and had far too many cellular offices. New place built, all under one roof, A rated for energy and old site sold for housing. County did similar combining 7 offices on one site.
>> Is it to do with people living too long
Adult Social care and to a lesser extent Children's Services are said to be the drag on Shire Counties. Outgoing leader of Northants made this case quite convincingly on Today programme a week or two ago. She was challenged by Harry Phibbs also a Tory from a London Borough who blathered on about his council's efficiency and low Council Tax. His Council makes more from parking than many authorities have in total revenue.....
>>
>> It does seem to be chronic, and getting worse. And it started before the financial
>> crisis and B....t.
>>
>> How the hell can FB be 'worth' $500,000,000,000, and is it connected? It represents somebody's
>> wealth, but is it usefully employed?
>>
>> I expect Z will explain it. Or maybe I'll ask Alexa.
>>
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A recent experience which I think sums things up.
I reported to my council a 5 yard stretch of road where it met the main road. The surface was totally broken up and I witnessed an elderly gentleman tripping crossing the road due to the potholes.
I reported this to the council and said it was high risk as it was a busy crossing for pedestrians and this could have been a serious injury if it wasnt for the fact that his accomplice caught him.
I walked past it yesterday and the council have acted - they have patch repaired every single hole with shovelfuls of tar. Of course none of them are flattened and levelled out so now you have the challenge of multiple levels of surface which actually may be more of a risk than the original ones!
Unreal.
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Yep I use my council's website to report holes, usually very good, gets a bit more tricky on the rural roads where you have to drop a pin on a map to mark the spot.
They then send an assessor out, the outcome is sent to you via email, sometimes I've had to go back and reapply when they seem to not have been looking at thee same hole as me.
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At least when you report a hole they look into it.
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>> At least when you report a hole they look into it.
not round here they don't.
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Ours has a pretty good reporting system using Google maps. When I've reported things they've got back to me. Atm though there several thousand reported potholes waiting for the council to repair them.
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>> I've found that site to be a complete waste of time.
I use it because the problem's then in the public domain and if any injury or damage is caused as a result then the victim has evidence of it being reported.
I usually get an automated email response and reference number within hours from my local authority.
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Is there a definition somewhere of what constitutes a pothole?
Deeper than about six inches is what I'd call a hole - something that might be hard to drive out of or would smash the exhaust or underside.
But some people seem to use the term to mean a rough surface that is uncomfortable to drive on because they are using rubber bands instead of proper tyres.
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>> Is there a definition somewhere of what constitutes a pothole?
>> Deeper than about six inches is what I'd call a hole - something that might
>> be hard to drive out of or would smash the exhaust or underside.
>> But some people seem to use the term to mean a rough surface that is
>> uncomfortable to drive on because they are using rubber bands instead of proper tyres.
I bet the kerb outside my home is less than 6 inches. I bet if i hit that at 35 mph at the wrong angle i would be looking at real car damage.
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A quick and horribly inaccurate look says....
2005 - 2006 Total Service Budget £118bn
Education 35%
Social Services 18%
Housing 13%
Cultural, Environment, Planning 11%
Police 10%
Highways & Transport 6%
Fire 2%
Other 5%
2016 - 2017 Total Service Budget £91bn
Education 37%
Social Care 29%
Police 12%
All other Services* 25%
It's difficult to compare really, especially with that b***** great "all other services*" which represents "Highways & transport, Public Health, Fire & Rescue, Cultural, Environment & planning services and "other services"
You'd think that Social Services & Housing would compare to Social Care and the values are similar 31% - 29%.
The "all other services" would have been 24% under the old terms PLUS "Central Services". WTF that is.
All in all, the overall budget is down 10% which may be somewhat accounted for by the way that capital expenditure is treated and otherwise split similar.
So, less money in real terms and significant increase in overheads. You'd think inflation would have an impact but quickly comparing cigarettes, petrol and Big Macs not so much as you might think.
All in all, if one had to guess, it would be that the way money was spent within the individual areas was where the big unknown lies.
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All in all, if one had to guess, it would be that the way money
>> was spent within the individual areas was where the big unknown lies.
Some of it is down to shuffling and cutting budgets and responsibilities to local government, it won't be the whole thing but it does have an impact, as councils are responsible for looking after local roads.
A relative works for a council, they have stuff pushed onto them and told they have a statutory obligation to provide service x but with a 15% cut.
As road repair is something that can be left it is.
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>> Agree. Reporting them to the County's 'Street Doctor' OTOH was usually very effective. Whether that's
>> still case now Northamptonshire has declared itself effectively bankrupt is another question.
>>
Councils paying large sums of money to celebrities.
Link to telegraph
tinyurl.com/y9pfa5v4
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Came home via the M62 and M60 yesterday after a week in East Riding. Roads are dreadful especially in lane 1.
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Came from Chorley to Cambridge on Saturday and avoided lane 1 in most of the extensive 50mph roadworks for this reason.
In one stretch lane 3 was best as its newer asphalt wasn't the incessant rumble strip of the other lanes.
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you can understand why people stick to lane two.
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...the roads around me are scheduled (in this, the new financial year) a complete and widespread program of surface-dressing (in the order of 5-6 road miles that haven't been touched for years).
They are so bad, however, that they also needed a 4-week session of road-planing and resurfacing prior to that to remove (the worst of) the potholes in order to support that surface-dressing. (looking at it, around 10% of the planned works have been planed and resurfaced).
The latter phase was completed just over a month ago, and whilst we now await the surface dressing, a large number of new potholes has appeared. :-(
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During the last snow storm here, Surrey council contractors turned up, brushed snow out of two potholes, filled it with now barely warm tar and drove off. In the process they left 4 other potholes unrepaired 36 inches away and hidden by the snow
When provided with pictures of the facial events the reply was "Its a fixed price contract to maintain the roads so its makes no difference"
The tar has come out of the "fixed" potholes - lasted about 4 weeks.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 3 Apr 18 at 09:29
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...I was in Bury last week (someone has to be ;-) ) and noted a 4ft square patch of tarmac scraped back to the cobbles underneath.
As we passed later, and in rain, the hole was full of water up to tarmac level.
Next morning, it was being filled; simply dumping tarmac into the water, and no sign of any roller or "whacker" being used. :-(
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I've had to replace 3 tyres in the past year due to sidewall bulges which I assume were caused by potholes. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, they were all Pirelli P Zeros. The Continental Sport Contacts they were replaced with ( and yes I changed the fourth one too ) have, so far been fine. Very low profile things on my car though. Don't suppose that helps with their resistance to damage.
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'Came home via the M62 and M60 yesterday after a week in East Riding.'
Hope the weather did not spoil the visit for you.
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A little. We were in Filey with some friends from the Netherlands - it was pretty cold, at least we had some dry days ! Yesterday was grim to travel home in though. Spring in Wales 14 degrees and sunny !
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Motorway potholes - rtj70
