Top dressing

[Globalti]

That was because they discovered that as soon as they made a corner, some Celt would come along and open a newsagent's.

 

[ColinJ]

Ironically, the other thing the Roman's didn't do was corners.

And wet cobbles aren't exactly easy to corner on. (Or any more comfortable than rough surface dressing!)

 

[w00hoo_kent]

^ this. Our local high street was top dressed without fixing the cracks and potholes first. You would have thought the contractors might have noticed, but it was only when the parish council complained that operatives returned, the chippings shovelled out of the holes, the cavities filled and the repairs re-top dressed - with a different grade and colour of chippings - a permanent reminder of the original cock-up.

Agreed, my worst top dressing incident was after it had been in for some months, the pothole they'd dressed over (you could see it on google streetview because it was from before the work) caused an almost invisible dip in the top dressing. Buckled my back wheel when I hit it at 30+ (near the end of a long straight downhill). When I went back you could stand by the side of the road and hear the 'pop pop' of car tyres flexing as they hit it. I complained about it, no idea if it did any good (not somewhere I regularly travel) but I'd imagine by now it's probably been worn back to a pothole anyway.

 

[sleaver]

@Nomadski When you was on Leith Hill on Friday, were they "dressing" the road?

If so, that will make Leith Hill interesting for a while.

 

[bpsmith]

And wet cobbles aren't exactly easy to corner on. (Or any more comfortable than rough surface dressing!)

Very true!

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Another thing (among the many) I don't understand are 'slippery surface' signs.

There's been one on an industrial estate near us for decades and the road's been redone a couple of times. It's on a bend on a 30mph stretch of road that you need to reduce speed to get round anyway.

I bet I've been round it literally 1000's of times, and never skidded, or seen anyone else close to skidding.

Surely the should either reduce the limit, mend the surface or just bin the sign or they're just admitting incompetence? What's the criteria and implications of these signs?

 

[ColinJ]

Another thing (among the many) I don't understand are 'slippery surface' signs.

There's been one on an industrial estate near us for decades and the road's been redone a couple of times. It's on a bend on a 30mph stretch of road that you need to reduce speed to get round anyway.

I sarcastically commented to a mate a couple of days ago that a moorland furniture store we were riding past had a sale on. He laughed and said that the sale had been going for 10 years. I laughed back and said that the sale had actually been on for at least 26 years, because I first rode that way in 1989 and it was on then, and has been ever since!

For example, April 2009!

 

[Accy cyclist]

I had the misfortune to hit a mile stretch of the stuff tonight. Even more annoying were the vehicles that passed me going around 40mph when there were signs clearly telling them to stick to 20mph!

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

The powers that be have slung some more pea gravel on the TPT between Penistone and Dunford Bridge.
Can't see why as it's in patches and not really repairing any flaws.

 

[Nomadski]

@Nomadski When you was on Leith Hill on Friday, were they "dressing" the road?

If so, that will make Leith Hill interesting for a while.

Indeed. We had to divert off down Coldharbour Lane.

And it wasn't just Leith Hill, the RideLondon route off Dorking High Street and round to the garage had the same surface, as did much of the Dorking Road from the Tadworth roundabout towards Headley.

The Dorking Road was interesting with its 20mph signs hidden deep in bushes, so every car was screaming past, kicking up loose chips as you spin your wheels through it all.

Not great fun tbh.

 

[bpsmith]

I had the misfortune to hit a mile stretch of the stuff tonight. Even more annoying were the vehicles that passed me going around 40mph when there were signs clearly telling them to stick to 20mph!

You're lucky you had signs put out. Hit a mile section last week that was still very tacky. No signs, else I would have changed route. Cars flicking it up everywhere and stones sticking to tyres.

Hate that tick tick sound when you get off the new section and pick up loads of flint from older section as tar over the tread!

 

[Incontinentia Buttocks]

Road before dressing, not too bad, after dressing it's a mess of deep loose chippings uneven surface and a sign saying "Slippery Surface ". Well it wasn't bloody well slippery before the dressing!

 

[Globalti]

Even more stupidly, Lancashire CC recently cold-planed several sections of the Blackburn-Ribchester road, laying down some lovely smooth rolled black stuff to every cyclist's relief, especially on the climbs. Now they've gone and top-dressed the lot! Crazy!

 

[nickyboy]

Snake Pass on the Glossop side has recently been top dressed. It's sort of ok-ish now as there's plenty of traffic to shift the loose stuff.

Still a little nervy on a 40mph+ descent though

What is crap is going up. Until the top dressing really beds in the road is really grippy and makes the climb hard going

 

[ColinJ]

I have paying a bit more attention to top-dressed road surfaces since this thread started. They are some local stretches that are really horrible. A good example is on the main road past Morrisons in Todmorden. I rode along there the other evening and actually had to stop at the roadside to let some air out of my tyres before continuing - I just could not stand the battering that the bike was getting.

I have, however, found some top-dressed roads which have been done really well - they are almost as smooth as plain tarmac. It does support the notion that the method itself is not the problem, it is the all too common hurried, unskilled application of it.