Another pothole thread

[Calinours]

I’ve never seen the UK roads so bad. I knew it was getting bad in my old neck of the woods in Kent - being on the roads a fair bit I damaged a fair few tyres and wheels before moving on. A few weeks ago I did a loop of England and was surprised to discover the pothole situation seems to be just as bad pretty much everywhere else.

It seems that more and more are becoming aware. While the Daily Express ain’t my usual choice for news they seem to me to be on point here…

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1724983/britain-...

Do we have any long time professional drivers on PH who can offer their view on whether it really is getting as bad as it seems ?

[Grumps.]

It’s the same, every time we have a bad ish winter.

[trickywoo]

Winter always causes issues but my experience in Surrey / Sussex borders is that entire sections of road are severely damaged now.

I reported potholes on a particular road a few months ago and got a reply back that the Council knows and the whole thing needs doing, they aren't even trying to fix the holes. I'd be surprised it it go resurfaced before next winter.

[AlexGSi2000]

We will just approach it like everything else in this country at the moment, just leave and forget about it until its at breaking point.
Costs can be saved on preventative maintenance, so why bother?

Results of decades of cuts - I remember hearing that most councils had a department responsible for looking after the roads.
I think most got rid of those a long time ago - now its down to the cheapest bidder to go round filling holes.

Keep calm and carry on.

[rottenegg]

Yep, because all the government care about is ULEZ and pandering to other splinter groups. Meanwhile, the transport infrastructure is decaying around us, the NHS is close to collapse, key services are striking and most importantly, I can't get any cherry tomatoes for my salads.

[mk1coopers]

Damaged 2 tyres on one recently, filled in all the forms, reply came back 'section 58' not liable, tried to argue it but no joy, as others have said it's really not good enough.

[smithyithy]

Local roads are always knackered through the winter, but what's a major piss-take is the stretch of the M6 near Birmingham, one of the busiest and most important stretches of motorway in the country, is riddled with pot holes, ruts and cracks, all of which are perfectly visible when you're forced down to 30mph on a Thursday afternoon for no discernible reason. It also provides ample opportunity to view the millions being burned on the adjacent HS2 works, just as an additional slap in the face for the tax payer.

[Dog Star]

I’ve replaced the front springs on our SLK and 159 in the last few months - more than the entire 37 prior years combined.

I don’t actually even recall hitting any potholes (I’m very careful) so wtf is going on?

[KaraK]

smithyithy said:

Local roads are always knackered through the winter, but what's a major piss-take is the stretch of the M6 near Birmingham, one of the busiest and most important stretches of motorway in the country, is riddled with pot holes, ruts and cracks, all of which are perfectly visible when you're forced down to 30mph on a Thursday afternoon for no discernible reason. It also provides ample opportunity to view the millions being burned on the adjacent HS2 works, just as an additional slap in the face for the tax payer.

Yeah there's a nasty pothole where the M61 merges into the M6 - it's been there for at least the last 3 years. Honestly avoiding it is nigh-automatic for me now. Discovered the other day that it's now got a friend

[LJF_97]

Only way to solve this is to raise tax or cut other services. Since nobody seems to want to do either, the situation will remain.

Only option is to dive slowly, serving around them, or buy a car with large tyres so it doesn't affect it as much.

[mk1coopers]

LJF_97 said:

Only way to solve this is to raise tax or cut other services. Since nobody seems to want to do either, the situation will remain.

Only option is to dive slowly, serving around them, or buy a car with large tyres so it doesn't affect it as much.

It's not the only option, more effective use of the money allocated would help, there's one (of many) on the way to work that has been filled at least 4 times, every time what's been done breaks out again, using section 58 is just a get out clause.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/secti...

[FlyingPanda]

I do think there's a fundamental issue with the way in which council budgets are allocated.

I worked with a (proper) pothole repair company for a while, and they said that they had started losing work because they were too expensive when they quoted for a proper, long-term fix, and the council were opting for what they called the "bucket of tar merchants" who were of course far cheaper but their work would only last 6 months at best. That didn't matter though because 6 months down the road was a different budget (and likely to become someone else's problem).

Now I think about it, I guess governments do exactly the same thing...

[Calinours]

Do many of you guys do much driving on the continent (western europe) in the countries comparable to us?

Nowhere is perfect, but it’s hard not to question why things seem to be so much worse in the UK. Every time I jump off the Eurotunnel shuttle, the state of the roads (inc motorways), and the endless tides of rubbish along the verges leaves me a tad depressed.

[mk1coopers]

It’s not just Europe, travel into Wales and you will normally see a marked improvement in the condition of the roads.

[TarquinMX5]

Calinours said:

Do many of you guys do much driving on the continent (western europe) in the countries comparable to us?

Nowhere is perfect, but it’s hard not to question why things seem to be so much worse in the UK. Every time I jump off the Eurotunnel shuttle, the state of the roads (inc motorways), and the endless tides of rubbish along the verges leaves me a tad depressed.

Approx 6,000 miles pa for the past 20 years, mainly France but also Germany, Switzerland, some in Spain and a little in Belgium.

Our roads are the worst, by far, with the possible exception of Belgium, where the short distance I covered there was awful. French roads used to be bad but they put us to shame now. Returning to the UK's roads can be quite dispiriting.

[Glosphil]

A recent email from Gloucestershire CC asked motorists to report potholes, but pointed out that potholes less than 75mm deep would not be repaired. 75mm! That's 3/4 the height of the sidewall on a 195/50 tyre.

I recently damaged a wheel & tyre on a pothole that was approx. 50cm long by 30cm wide. My claim was refused because, "The pothole is at the edge of the road surface". Still impossible to miss in the dark & it's raining on a narrow road with a HGV coming the other way & not slowing down.

[stogbandard]

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on road surfacing but purely by observation over the years the state of our roads isn’t helped by the type of surfacing.

Up until about 25 years ago main roads were surfaced with hot rolled asphalt - quite a robust material. Then this all changed with smoother stone mastic asphalt. It’s cheaper thinner, nice and quiet when it’s new, but it seems to get brittle quickly and any slight imperfections soon turn into potholes. I’ve seen stretches on the A14 that have lasted, maybe less than 5 years, and others where there are remaining stretches of original hot rolled asphalt that are still in pretty good condition after what must be 30 years.

Highway England / National Highways or whatever they will call themselves next, effectively banned hot rolled asphalt on its network. Only stretches that are under arms length management such as Autolink on the A19 between Thirsk and Newcastle have use hot rolled surfacing and it’s a much nicer stretch to drive on. Some local authorities have gone back to using hot rolled asphalt.

Where I live, I think the local Council employ contractors to surface our roads with crushed dog biscuits - or it may as well be, given how long it lasts.

[flimper]

Can't remember the last time I drove on a freshly resurfaced road

Is not repairing roads a cheap way of getting us to slow down?

I wish the man who used to spray paint ccks around potholes would come back

[Tigerj]

It’s more that there is no money in the pot for the maintenance. Highway teams have enough to fight fires but not resurface the whole network. It will likely get worse as social care sucks up more and more of the budget.

[nutsyH]

Oxfordshire County Council are on record (Radio Oxford) stating that they have a limited roads budget and their spending priorities are cyclists and pedestrians. The roads here are in a terrible condition, and OCC don't care.

So they are spending millions on LTN's and camera controlled "gateways" that residents need a pass to go through a max of 100 times per annum (or if you live in an outlying village 25 times per annum).