Surface Dressing :-(

[bpsmith]

[QUOTE 5228904, member: 45"]I've seen similar, but if done properly it doesn't have to be like this. They did my main commute last year. They're supposed to follow the rollers with a sweeper and then sweep again a number of times afterwards, which should get rid of (and recycle) all of the loose gravel. Our road is now fine to cycle on.[/QUOTE]
I wish I had taken some photos, as this clearly wasn’t the tactic used in this instance. There were sections where it felt like riding on someone’s loose gravel drive, with loose clippings about 1.5 inches deep at a guess.

 

[Slick]

I hate the stuff!

In Ireland, they have a technique whereby they roll the gravel into the tarmac, creating the draggiest surface known to man, as a result there are some places where you have to pedal down hill or else you slow down

They use that here or certainly used to. There is one stretch where I always struggled and it took me a while to realise why. Horrible stuff.

 

[PK99]

Yawn. This topic has been done to death soooo many times!

 

[Slick]

Yawn. This topic has been done to death soooo many times!

You know that you don't have to read every thread if it's not relevant to you, right?

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yawn. This topic has been done to death soooo many times!

So has just about every topic on CycleChat, and yet most of us are happy enough to rehash old topics. Not all of us are long-term members, and finding existing threads on any topic isn't always easy.

 

[bpsmith]

Yawn. This topic has been done to death soooo many times!

Not around Gower it hasn’t.

 

[Bazzer]

A section of road on my commute was dressed unusually, (or at least unusually IME for my local authority), a couple of weeks back. Had the usual layer of tar followed by loose chippings. After about four days all of the loose chippings were swept up and a new layer of tar laid and the road was then remarked. Whilst not as good as a lovely smooth road, it has actually produced quite a pleasant surface.
Don't know if this is change by the LA in the way they deal with resurfacing, or specific to the road as it is open countryside. I do know there were at least three crashes on the road during the last winter, but only one of the ones I know of, was on that section.

 

[bianchi1]

They are done regularly around Worcestershire this time of year. A38 up by me done a week ago, swept after a day and fine to ride on. Even very minor lanes are being worked on, pot holes are filled in days...it's good to see.

Cross the border into darkest (east) Herefordshire and it's a different matter. No surface dressing, but in some cases more holes than road.

Interesting last year while cycling in France I saw they are starting to adopt the surface dressing method.

 

[Drago]

Interesting that overseas aid pays for road repairs and road building in Niger and Mauritius, but not for the pothole entrance to the land that time forgot outside Chez Drago.

 

[mjr]

Interesting that overseas aid pays for road repairs and road building in Niger and Mauritius, but not for the pothole entrance to the land that time forgot outside Chez Drago.

I doubt that. The repairs bit.

 

[Salty seadog]

Last week I came back from a week's tour in Northern France and the roads were billiard table smooth.

The UK, it seems, is fixated with short term half-hearted fixes.

It's the British way.

 

[mjr]

Surface dressing is a quick, relatively cheap way to seal damaged roads in an attempt to reduce future potholing (by stopping water getting into the road, then freezing).

I suspect, but will stand correcting, that the chippings thrown in after the sealant has been laid are a necessary evil to provide some skid resistance (for cars, obviously)

The problem is that failing to repair the surface damage first and failing to sweep up loose chippings after are cost-cutting ways which rarely affect cars directly, are crash hazards for cycling (stealth potholes) and negate most of the protection of the surface dressing (as motor vehicles scraping the loose chippings around scour off the sealant, allowing water in).

I would estimate that most of the surface dressing done in this country is done badly in the above ways. It probably wouldn't attract half as much criticism if done correctly.

 

[Gixxerman]

Is it true that this is normally sponsored by Autoglass?

 

[Gravity Aided]

Done on all rural roads over here, normally quite sloppily as well. I once thought of running for township supervisor just so the roads would get done right. And city concrete gets patched with asphalt, but do you think they pack it down? No, they just leave the asphalt loose in the pothole and let cars do it, supposedly. But cars just spread asphalt crumbs everywhere and waste tons of it. Government would work better if those who are seeking an easier way out of doing their job were in some other endeavor. We'd save time and money, and provide for the public more efficiently.

 

[Drago]

I doubt that. The repairs bit.

T'is true. Doubting it doesn't change it.