State of UK Roads

[mattybain]

Have just found out that Prestwich have been given £63k for road / pavement repairs for 2009/10. This is less than 10% of the £700k estimated by Bury Council's own engineers that is required to fix the 12 most needy roads in the area.

It also turns out that Bury Council paid out over £3m in compensation over the past 2 years to victims of trips and falls on local pavements.

What hope do we have cycling on our roads? things are going to get a whole lot worse over the next 12 months.

As an aside does anyone know if this budget is supposed to cover A roads? or are they handled by a different budget. If this is for all roads in the area than it is not on scandalous but criminally negligent. There are some major roads in the area that are approaching the stage of being impassable on a bike and a major pothole related accident is waiting to happen.

 

[summerdays]

Report all pot holes on the http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ website. That way if there is an accident the council will know that it has been reported to them as a problem and they failed in their duty to fix it - plus other cyclists can see where problems are.

 

[mattybain]

Report all pot holes on the http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ website. That way if there is an accident the council will know that it has been reported to them as a problem and they failed in their duty to fix it - plus other cyclists can see where problems are.

Already have, doesn't seem to make any difference. Am going out over weekend to take pictures, hopefully with a ruler to show just how big these holes are getting!!.

 

[hackbike 666]

No problem here as there are roadworks all over the place.

 

[Bigtwin]

Lat time I was in Africa, I greatly enjoyed the superior road surfaces. Says it all really.

 

[hackbike 666]

That's one hell of a commute mate.

 

[mattybain]

No problem here as there are roadworks all over the place.

As they are in Manchester however most of these are sewer / gas replacements and guess what? they leave the road in a worst state then when they start digging. At least they do around here.

 

[Bigtwin]

As they are in Manchester however most of these are sewer / gas replacements and guess what? they leave the road in a worst state then when they start digging. At least they do around here.

Oh Natch. They resurfaced the road on which I live for the first time since I have been here, that's 10 years.

Dug a trench in it about 1/2 mile long less than a week later - you really couldn't make it up. Filled it in and patted it down with the back of a shovel, so you can imagine how it is now.

Mind you, part of the roadside slid away 3 months ago - we have had temp lights ever since taking it down to single lane. Generator running 24/7 for 3 months. How is no body ever sacked from councils?

 

[marinyork]

As they are in Manchester however most of these are sewer / gas replacements and guess what? they leave the road in a worst state then when they start digging. At least they do around here.

That may be the case. You are however allowed to complain and the contractor will have their arse hauled back and redo it. The window for complaining about the state a road has been left in is relatively short though.

 

[Bigtwin]

The window for complaining about the state a road has been left in is relatively short though.

Just get a load of complaints in on file in advance. The work is always complete shite, so there's no risk of not needing them.

 

[HJ]

Report all pot holes on the http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ website. That way if there is an accident the council will know that it has been reported to them as a problem and they failed in their duty to fix it - plus other cyclists can see where problems are.

Last time I tried that it took 18 month before action was taken...

 

[summerdays]

What I want to know is why they have resurfaced the road leading to the really poor bit... but not done the poor bit - unless as a concrete surface it would take alot more than a top dressing to sort it out.

(It was reported in Feb so you are saying it will be quite some time yet then)

 

[marinyork]

Doubt there's much chance of concrete being touched.

 

[summerdays]

They must have to replace it at some point - all the slabs are now not flat and breaking up, inch drops between slabs and an inch lip up if you want to turn right. Due to parked cars you are forced to cycle near the centre of the road where part of the problem lies. I spend my time cycling along there looking at the ground rather than the traffic and kids/parents crossing the road.

 

[marinyork]

Those are common faults associated with concrete. I used to live on a corner of a concrete road like that. I don't like the material on roads either for a number of reasons and not just that of a cyclist. As far as councils are concerned replacing it at some point = 20 or 30 years in the future or even better some privatised contractor's worry. It could cost a fortune. As it is near a school it might attract some pot of money for speed bumps or traffic calming, depends how close. If it is a main road, there may be a chance of it being sorted at some kind of sane timescale but I still wouldn't say it was that likely. If it's not neither we're talking more kind of geological timescale.