West Somerset's poor tarmac.

[wobblywalker]

How bad are your road surfaces?
I've just got back from the shops, (first time in a couple of weeks).
I can't believe the state of the pot holes.
One village I drove through had their holes repaired in September,now they're dreadful again,but it's the same holes repaired before.
I saw them being fixed (ha-ha) and they were using that 'Cold Tarmac' out of bags.
Is this stuff 'Fit for purpose' or is it the sub-contractors doing a shoddy job!!? (at this rate they've got a job for life).
Who are the 'slap-dash' officials that are signing off on such poor work?
Who cares though,it's only the tax payer that pays!
What's it like in your area?

 

[Stevieboy]

Repairing pot holes never works, you have resurface the whole road. It's simple physics, you can't get the edge to edge bond with the tarmac, and it's invariably a different type of tarmac used than that of the road itself. The filled whole just "rocks" every time a car goes over it, and the whole sorry saga continues.

 

[wobblywalker]

Cheers Stevieboy,
you know it ,I know it, so why do our councils insist on these (really short time) fixes.
It's our money their wasting.
I'd really like to hear from someone who makes these decisions and their reasons and justifications why.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

How bad are your road surfaces?

Awful, loads of potholes round here many of which are are given the temporary repair treatment which last about a month, you can report all kinds of problems using the link below and they are usually fixed in a couple of weeks so worth using if you have a particularly big or deep one on your normal route to work etc.

https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole

 

[VW911]

Got to agree about the roads in Somerset.
Drove from Langport to Taunton and back, and then Langport to Somerton and back earlier today.
The road between Langport and Taunton is absolutely horrendous. I used to travel it regularly on my bike, but wouldn't want to now.
As other have said, it's a false economy to just "top-dress" the roads (spread a little bitumen on the road, cover it in gravel, then let the traffic bed it all down.)

 

[wobblywalker]

Wouldn't it be interesting to get a 'freedom of information' enquiry about how many cyclists and bikers that have been seriously injured because of potholes.
My partner has had suspension wrecked on her Subaru, and when she replaced that with a Merc had a wrecked rim. (All in 10 months).
Going back to cyclists,I grew up and started work in the 60's and 70's,a lot more people used mopeds and bikes then, all with pretty suspect lighting. If in those days the roads were as bad as they are today, I reckon a lot of us old bu**ers wouldn't be alive now.

 

[DavieC]

Our roads are dreadful, I've had to have new springs all round on my van and I drive around the potholes,but every grid cover/inspection hatch is like a pothole as well and it's not always possible to avoid them. The council must pay out millions every year for damage to wheels and tyres.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Wouldn't it be interesting to get a 'freedom of information' enquiry about how many cyclists and bikers that have been seriously injured because of potholes.
My partner has had suspension wrecked on her Subaru, and when she replaced that with a Merc had a wrecked rim. (All in 10 months).
Going back to cyclists,I grew up and started work in the 60's and 70's,a lot more people used mopeds and bikes then, all with pretty suspect lighting. If in those days the roads were as bad as they are today, I reckon a lot of us old bu**ers wouldn't be alive now.

Totally agree, I almost came a cropper a few years ago, went through a pot hole filled with water, it was about a foot deep! Went over the handlebars, I was very lucky.

 

[Nicks90]

Top dressing a road with minor cracks does work and can extend its life by years.
But... Once those cracks become holes, the only fix is to resurface.
There was a startup company a few years ago that had a boring machine with circular hard tarmac inserts that was very clever and made a proper fix for larger holes. But I've never seen it since
Must have been to expensive

Round our way you see regular drivers swerving left to right on the main roads. Stay right after the first traffic lights, then over to the pavement at the spinners chippy, then stay left till the crossing point and hard right till the junction. We all know where the big holes are because they've been there for so long

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

The A617 between Mansfield and Rainworth in Notts is truly appalling. The left hand lane is a dangerous suspension wrecker, especially given that this is a 70mph dual carriageway.

 

[dcbrookes]

I thought the roads in Herefordshire were dreadful when we lived there, but here in Gloucestershire they are no better.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There is nothing worse than driving through puddles of water that hide deep potholes i bet the road spring manufacturers profits have increased massively over the last few years.


Britain's pothole pandemic: Misery for drivers as pothole-related breakdowns reach a 'ridiculous' three-year high

• RAC says it attended 10,123 pothole-related breakdowns in 2021
• Cases up 10% on 2019 and up 19% on callouts for pothole damage in 2020
• Insurer Admiral also said it had seen a 39% rise in claims made by motorists for repair costs related to pothole damage compared to 2016
• Annual funding for pothole repairs has been removed from council budgets

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...s-pothole-breakdowns-hit-three-year-high.html

 

[jof]

Surrey is absolutely terrible for potholes & bloody dangerous if your on a push bike.
It's been like this for at least 5 years & when they do fill the potholes, it's like they use plastacine. And then you get old filler debris as well as the hole back in about 2 months time.

Not helped by utilities digging up newly repaired & resufaced roads either. Council should be given powers to force utilities to guarantee any road patching for 5 years.
But to be honest I don't think it's going to get better unless councils have their own road maintenance department with staff that take pride in their work rather than just contract it out to the lowest bidder who will fill potholes with gravel & PVA.

 

[wobblywalker]

Cheers jof,
I agree 100% about power to councils,but I'm not sure I trust them. Just look at that 'tented nightmare at Butlins Minehead' I reckon someone had some great holidays on the strength of planing consent on that!
Chippy, I didn't realise about funding being removed from budgets......so how do we know how much it costs and...how much is paid out for vechicle damage and personel claims.
It's a DISGRACE!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Chippy, I didn't realise about funding being removed from budgets......so how do we know how much it costs and...how much is paid out for vechicle damage and personel claims.
It's a DISGRACE!

Insurance claims.

 

[wobblywalker]

i know I love American muscle cars from the late 60's and early 70's (mopars rule.... g**gle that) but I really hate the American compensation culture.
If a job's done right, there's no need to claim,everyone 's happy,and it costs every one less.
I better be quiet tonight now,I've been down our local and had 3 pints of 'Pitchfork Santa Fe' 7.3% LOVELY! and could get myself in trouble.
Unless i'm brilliantly censored!
Cheers everyone,and goondight!

 

[DavieC]

American muscle cars from the late 60's and early 70's

A fella I knew had a late 60s fastback Chevrolet Impala. I only saw it a couple of times but remember it was huge and I thought it looked fantastic.Massive V8 engine.