Is this sensible?
Discussion
For the last 5 days the centre of town has been largely stationary thanks to some 4-way roadworks.
A new bridge? A motorway? What feat of civil engineering warrants this much work? I investigated...
Walking down towards the high street we see this... lots of signs:
What is going on, we wonder... They've been fitting stuff under the pavement. That explains why the footpath is closed.
But one lane of the road is closed too, with a barrier all round it - what's going on in the road? Well in fact, nothing at all:
There are some more roadworks going on on the other side of the road, and another chunk of road surrounded by barriers. Something's going on there. Or maybe not:
So apart from one pavement closed, there doesn't seem to be any need for any of these two fenced off pieces of road and no need to stop traffic. Let's venture on down to the high street... the amusement continues:
Looking to the right we have traffic light, cones, a barrier and a closed bus stop:
Here's a nice queue of traffic, waiting for, well, nothing at all:
Walking up to the other end of this set of lights we see:
And in the middle, the zebra crossing is closed:
Looking back up the road we started from, we now know there's nothing apart from a small trench in the pavement on the right hand side...
Is that really all warranted, and how many hours of people's time have been wasted as they sit needlessly at traffic lights?
(Standstill provided by courtesy of Morrison Telecom Services, who set up the gubbins before Easter and have left it there untouched)
A new bridge? A motorway? What feat of civil engineering warrants this much work? I investigated...
Walking down towards the high street we see this... lots of signs:
What is going on, we wonder... They've been fitting stuff under the pavement. That explains why the footpath is closed.
But one lane of the road is closed too, with a barrier all round it - what's going on in the road? Well in fact, nothing at all:
There are some more roadworks going on on the other side of the road, and another chunk of road surrounded by barriers. Something's going on there. Or maybe not:
So apart from one pavement closed, there doesn't seem to be any need for any of these two fenced off pieces of road and no need to stop traffic. Let's venture on down to the high street... the amusement continues:
Looking to the right we have traffic light, cones, a barrier and a closed bus stop:
Here's a nice queue of traffic, waiting for, well, nothing at all:
Walking up to the other end of this set of lights we see:
And in the middle, the zebra crossing is closed:
Looking back up the road we started from, we now know there's nothing apart from a small trench in the pavement on the right hand side...
Is that really all warranted, and how many hours of people's time have been wasted as they sit needlessly at traffic lights?
(Standstill provided by courtesy of Morrison Telecom Services, who set up the gubbins before Easter and have left it there untouched)
The traffic management company is on a right little earner there. Also looks Waltastic! with the number of cones and equipment
Although nobody will care, the total number of wasted hours of humans sitting there doing nothing also has an economic ’cost’, and there is something called (VOT) value of travel time which can calc monetary value of travel time for users.
Although nobody will care, the total number of wasted hours of humans sitting there doing nothing also has an economic ’cost’, and there is something called (VOT) value of travel time which can calc monetary value of travel time for users.
Some of that will be for vehicle parking and equipment storage because for some reason it has to be surrounded by barriers and cones (probably an insurance requisite)
You will have numerous people involved in this probably 4 or 5 separate contractors. The lights, the council, the hole diggers, the hole fillers and the actual contractor who the work is for. Usually gas or electric
You will have numerous people involved in this probably 4 or 5 separate contractors. The lights, the council, the hole diggers, the hole fillers and the actual contractor who the work is for. Usually gas or electric
Life at last!
The next week they did similar works in a road nearby, but this time kept the roads clear. So it is possible.
As much as I find it thoughtless and inconsiderate and a sign of the 'British disease', I am impressed that every single one of the thousands of people stuck in cars at an entirely needless 4-way stop didn't get out and hurl the clutter aside. We wonder how many more days or weeks it could have gone on without a squeak. Or should that be a 'baaa'?
CoolHands said:
Also looks Waltastic! with the number of cones and equipment
There were a lot more signs that than, I didn't photograph them all...!bergclimber34 said:
Some of that will be for vehicle parking and equipment storage because for some reason it has to be surrounded by barriers and cones (probably an insurance requisite)
You will have numerous people involved in this probably 4 or 5 separate contractors. The lights, the council, the hole diggers, the hole fillers and the actual contractor who the work is for. Usually gas or electric
Well, they disappeared on the Thursday before the Easter weekend, and there was no vehicle parking or storage going on in those areas then. Those two empty fenced-off areas stayed blocking the road for a least four days. You would have thought, for the short time it would have taken, that they could have cleared the roads to let traffic flow for those days. The only named contractor was Morrison Telecom, so if there were others, they were the main one.You will have numerous people involved in this probably 4 or 5 separate contractors. The lights, the council, the hole diggers, the hole fillers and the actual contractor who the work is for. Usually gas or electric
The next week they did similar works in a road nearby, but this time kept the roads clear. So it is possible.
As much as I find it thoughtless and inconsiderate and a sign of the 'British disease', I am impressed that every single one of the thousands of people stuck in cars at an entirely needless 4-way stop didn't get out and hurl the clutter aside. We wonder how many more days or weeks it could have gone on without a squeak. Or should that be a 'baaa'?
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