Top dressing

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Cuchilo

Prize winning member X2
Location
London
Ive also been noticing top dressed roads since this thread started . My clubs TT course has been done and its actually made the road surface better . It hasn't made it nice to ride on but the work done to the road is a massive improvement .
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
The good roads have the tarmac filling in the gaps between the chippings. I assume that the chippings will make the surface more hard-wearing and skid-resistant?

The bad roads had the chippings sticking up from the tarmac. Even when new, those surfaces are slow and noisy, but the worst thing is that the partially-supported stones soon get knocked out by HGVs and then bald patches develop which make the surface horribly rough and uneven.
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
It doesn't work very well on country lanes either - the passage of traffic is supposed to complete the consolidation of the chippings into the surface, but on a narrow lane vehicle wheels produce two tracks with drifts of chippings in the centre and sides. I dread whats coming when I see those 'layby closed' signs with their piles of chippings delivered ready for use. BTW where do all the chippings go when the bald patches start appearing less than 12 months later :scratch:
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
BTW where do all the chippings go when the bald patches start appearing less than 12 months later :scratch:
I reckon they end up on the grass verge, only to be washed back onto the road by flash floods from the next thunderstorm! Like this ...

gravel on road.jpg
 
What an immaculate street. Where is that?

It surprised me when I just googled to find out. Apparently it's Faulkner Street in Liverpool.

There's some 'interesting' surfaces on the thread it was posted on.

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?13310-Cobbled-Streets-and-Areas-of-Liverpool/page2

I never realised that some 'cobbled' streets aren't in fact cobbles, but 'setts'. I love learning, and I'm now more impressed by badgers than I was before.
 

bianchi1

Legendary Member
Location
malverns
I feel like I'm going to be the lone voice in this thread.

Around Worcestershire they seem to have got the top dressing down to a fine art. It's spread and swept often within 24 hours and then swept again a day or two later. It's as good to ride on as the old surface within no time.

They have just done one of the Worcester roads up the Malvern hills and it is perfect to ride up or down, at the top of the road you drop down into Hereford, which hasn't been done (it literally stops on the border) and you are confronted by pot holes, cracks, broken surfaces etc. I know which I prefer.

A road race course was done 3 weeks before the event and the organiser got in contact with Worcester council who were more than helpful. They swept it twice but it still had the odd slippery patch, another phone call and they were out again. The race went off without incident.

I do hear a lot of cyclist complaining about surface dressing, but have yet to hear of an alternative (affordable) solution. Apparently top dressing adds decades of life to the road, while also cutting the risks of skidding.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
There's a variation on top-dressing with granite chips, where they just spray tar emulsion in small areas then scatter fine grit. You see it used a lot on the continent to patch roads.

One hazard is the ribbons of molten tar that are poured in along the edges of repairs to seal the surface. In my motorcycling days I had a bum-puckering moment when accelerating on a wet road and my rear wheel hit one of these strips and the bike went into a complete tank-slapper. I eased off then opened up again and the same thing happened. I've noticed that in Lancashire at least they are now pouring grit onto the tar before it cools to make it much less slippery.
 

Orangreen

Regular
There's a freshly resurfaced road not far from me. It's proper tarmac and nice and smooth. I really hope it isn't 'dressed'. Sometimes it works and sometimes it's a disaster, but I find the rougher surface makes me want to pedal a little harder.
 

Bollo

Failed Tech Bro
Location
Winch
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