The Curse of the Road Chipping Fairies
Discussion
Devon County Council obviously wants to be seen to be doing something about the terrible potholed state of the roads, but instead of fixing them properly it has instead got the lorries out over the region tarring and gravelling random sections of the highways with the most lethal combination known to two-wheelers.
After nearly coming a cropper on my bicycle over the weekend on a back road that had inches-deep drifts of gravel washed into towards the edge, this morning commute into work revealed that last night they have done a couple of miles of main A-road with the damned stuff. This made for a tense ride in to work trying to find a remotely grippy path through the sea of marbles. The motorbike felt slightly less lethal than the bicycle, probably due to its wider tyres, but not much.
So, anyone planning a two-wheeled south west adventure in next week's half term, be aware that there could be trouble around the corner on any road or lane.
After nearly coming a cropper on my bicycle over the weekend on a back road that had inches-deep drifts of gravel washed into towards the edge, this morning commute into work revealed that last night they have done a couple of miles of main A-road with the damned stuff. This made for a tense ride in to work trying to find a remotely grippy path through the sea of marbles. The motorbike felt slightly less lethal than the bicycle, probably due to its wider tyres, but not much.
So, anyone planning a two-wheeled south west adventure in next week's half term, be aware that there could be trouble around the corner on any road or lane.
While I'm with you on both doing the fixes properly and the curse of loose chippings, it's been such a long time since I've seen new chippings I almost want them to do the same around here. At the moment, all we get is a long delay from the arrival of yet another pot hole to a truck turning up to do a patch that then often becomes a pot hole again within a couple of months. That means the actual surface looks the the face of an acne suffering teenager. A mile of freshly laid chippings would be a welcome change.
John D. said:
The surface does end up good once it's all run-in at least.
Not really, apart from the obvious danger of the left over chippings, all the potholes, previous roadworks, surface changes and imperfections that could be seen and avoided before are still present but hidden under a grey blanket.There is a surge in councils choosing to "surface dress" roads rather than properly relay. This is simplistically spraying bitumen and then spreading chippings, it results in the conditions you highlighted. They should be sweeping up the chippings post the work as a matter of course and if you notice lots on a road you need to notify their highways department as its a reportable condition.
According to the industry/TfL its only approved to be used when the road substrate is solid (i.e. no potholes, collapsing edges etc), but the friction on the surface is low. By adding the chippings you restore the surface friction, the bitumen both acts as adhesion and more importantly seals the base layer to stop water ingress and subsequent hydraulic forcing which is what causes potholes. If anyone wants to be bored witless, the TRF Road Note RN39 is the guide your council should be following!
Unfortunately councils are trying to be smart and are using it on unsuitable roads rather than fix properly, and often their contractors are applying it badly!
They did a road near me which was potholed and collapsing on the verges, the contractor even attempted to fill the potholes with a pool of bitumen and chippings, which made it interesting when it got warm!
Ended up complaining to the highways department who admitted that for every mile of a proper resurface, they can do 10-15 miles of surface dressing, which to the average punter looks like they have fixed it properly. When the roads are so bad and budgets limited you can see why they are all doing it!
According to the industry/TfL its only approved to be used when the road substrate is solid (i.e. no potholes, collapsing edges etc), but the friction on the surface is low. By adding the chippings you restore the surface friction, the bitumen both acts as adhesion and more importantly seals the base layer to stop water ingress and subsequent hydraulic forcing which is what causes potholes. If anyone wants to be bored witless, the TRF Road Note RN39 is the guide your council should be following!
Unfortunately councils are trying to be smart and are using it on unsuitable roads rather than fix properly, and often their contractors are applying it badly!
They did a road near me which was potholed and collapsing on the verges, the contractor even attempted to fill the potholes with a pool of bitumen and chippings, which made it interesting when it got warm!
Ended up complaining to the highways department who admitted that for every mile of a proper resurface, they can do 10-15 miles of surface dressing, which to the average punter looks like they have fixed it properly. When the roads are so bad and budgets limited you can see why they are all doing it!
Round here it was grey marbles... then they came along and sprayed it all again with tar... so now black marbles... and a right mishmash of too many marbles and spots of too much tar.
Not a while line or (does anyone remember them?) catseye in sight mind, which considering the junctions and the like would be rather handy.
Not a while line or (does anyone remember them?) catseye in sight mind, which considering the junctions and the like would be rather handy.
acricha3 said:
Ended up complaining to the highways department who admitted that for every mile of a proper resurface, they can do 10-15 miles of surface dressing, which to the average punter looks like they have fixed it properly. When the roads are so bad and budgets limited you can see why they are all doing it!
And this is the crux - council budgets have been slashed, and repairs are very costly.My neighbour works for a company that does the very fine surface dressing (no left-over chipping), and their business is booming. They are, however, in a constant battle to stop councils having it done inappropriately, and trying to compete with the cowboys who throw it down in the wrong temperature etc.
One of the issues I found is that this morning is that, despite the 20mph max warning signs, cars can motor through fairly unaffected - a little wheelspin at 40mph isn't usually terminal - but on the motorbike i have to be really careful about avoiding any slippage. So I'm trundling along with a queue of cars up my rear end, probably wondering why the idiot in front is going so slowly.
Anyway, at least the dust has reduced since yesterday. It was like the sandstorm scene from Mad Max last night.
Anyway, at least the dust has reduced since yesterday. It was like the sandstorm scene from Mad Max last night.
Our road and a number of others nearby (a long cul-de-sac) had this done recently.
A complete and utter waste of time, money and resources.
Like many other areas there are routes nearby which DO need a complete rebuild. Ours needed neither surface dressing nor a rebuild.
It must be beyond the comprehension of Highways departments to not waste money and properly rebuild a road that needs it rather than scattering bloody gravel across two dozen that don't.
Call me cynical but this always happens when there's local elections as some sort of ploy by those incharge to say "look! We're improving your roads!".
I haven't seen a single instance in almost 20 years of riding where it didn't start to fail within weeks - sometimes days.
To the other commenter, I'm not sure who your friend is but he must be the ONLY person in the UK to do this properly as I've NEVER seen it work.
Fully agreed on the car up your back part as well. Albeit, you can send it pretty well on Dunlop Mutants....
A complete and utter waste of time, money and resources.
Like many other areas there are routes nearby which DO need a complete rebuild. Ours needed neither surface dressing nor a rebuild.
It must be beyond the comprehension of Highways departments to not waste money and properly rebuild a road that needs it rather than scattering bloody gravel across two dozen that don't.
Call me cynical but this always happens when there's local elections as some sort of ploy by those incharge to say "look! We're improving your roads!".
I haven't seen a single instance in almost 20 years of riding where it didn't start to fail within weeks - sometimes days.
To the other commenter, I'm not sure who your friend is but he must be the ONLY person in the UK to do this properly as I've NEVER seen it work.
Fully agreed on the car up your back part as well. Albeit, you can send it pretty well on Dunlop Mutants....
Edited by Biker9090 on Tuesday 20th May 14:33
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