Potholes are becoming a real problem!

It seems every time you go out in your car (or travel on your bicycle) you come across at least one pot-hole! Have you noticed this? Driving along you now have to do your best to avoid pot-holes ... they can and do do so much damage! When Eddie and I are out we have made a mental note as to where the worst ones are and do our best to avoid them ... but it's not always possible.

Reading an article on AOL today it says:

"Potholes leave one-in-five local roads in poor condition

The Asphalt Industry Alliance's (AIA) annual road condition report has revealed that as much as a fifth of the UK's roads are in a such poor state that they may only have five years of life remaining.
The body's report, called the "Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance" (ALARM) survey, revealed up to 40,000 miles of the UK's 246,000-mile road network is in a poor condition. Nearly 25,000 miles of roads – enough to drive around the entire planet – will need essential maintenance within the next 12 months.

ALARM also revealed a significant spending shortfall on local roads. According to the survey, the gap in funding required to keep the roads in England and Wales in reasonable order is £3.3m for each local authority, or £556m in total. Even if the funding was in place now, it would still take 14 years to get local roads back to a reasonable state.
Rick Green, chairman of the AIA, said: "Local roads are a vital asset, worth in the region of £400 billion, and they support all aspects of our daily work and home lives. But funding for their adequate maintenance has fallen short for so many years that further deterioration is inevitable.

"This is reflected in road condition, with one in five of our local roads now classed as structurally poor – with less than five years' life remaining – compared with one in six reported last year."

Although local authorities filled in over 1.5 million potholes last year, defective road surfaces still pose significant danger to vehicles and cyclists. Councils are liable for damage and injury from incidents caused by potholes, with Somerset County Council paying out £1.8m for a single claim in 2017."

See also: Pothole-related breakdowns surge in 2017
https://www.aol.co.uk/cars/2017/05/15/pothole-related-breakdowns-surge-in-2017/

See also: Potholes kill or seriously injure nearly 400 cyclists in the last decade
https://www.aol.co.uk/cars/2018/03/08/potholes-kill-or-seriously-injure-nearly-400-cyclists-in-the-las/

I fear the situation will only get worse with Councils/local authorities not having the money for repairs  

All the best Jan

Unless councils are given more government funding I can't see the situation improving any time soon, the roads round here are full of potholes and I not just talking about minor roads the A6 is just as bad

Yes, I agree with you ...

Driving around many of our main 'A' roads and even on some motorways there are quite large potholes, it never used to be like that! But of course there are more cars on the road, but is that an excuse!?

Drive carefully

All the best Jan

One thing was very noticeable when we moved here, the quality of the roads (and other infrastructure) was an order of magnitude better than in Surrey and Sussex. Some of our cart tracks were in better condition that some of their main roads.

However it is starting to degenerate now. With its big wheels and wide tyres the Qashqai is pretty good at dealing with them but there are places where the road edge has degenerated to give long ruts, which take over the steering if you aren't careful. I would NOT want to tackle some of them on a bicycle.

If you are a bike rider I think more care is needed with pot-holes.

One of our sons rides a bicycle and it was a while back now but he came off his bike due to a pothole! Fortunately he was not seriously injured, no broken bones, but did have a lot of bruises.

Whether its car, bike or even walking it's so important to keep alert to everything around you.

... anyway we have pleasant sunshine today so I think a walk later may be just the thing  

All the best Jan

Potholes are getting even deeper 

Hahahaha

I was thinking about finding a clip of Dawn French

oh yes here

https://imgur.com/gallery/ejDiDiO

chris c wrote:Hahahaha

I was thinking about finding a clip of Dawn French

oh yes here

https://imgur.com/gallery/ejDiDiO

Yes, thanks Graham Hahahaha  

LOL! I remember that Dawn French clip - thanks for posting it here

All the best Jan

So will potholes become a thing of the past?

Apparently ...

"An extra £100m has been allocated to England's local councils in order to help fund road repairs in the wake of Storm Emma and the 'Beast from the East'.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling announced the extra funding, which will help patch up around two million potholes and help strengthen roads against future severe weather.

The funds were not shared out equally, with local authorities receiving different amounts depending on need. Devon received the largest sum, with £4.5m allocated on top of £2.5m already given to 'quickly repair the A379'.

Norfolk and North Yorkshire were both given over £3m, while Birmingham, Sheffield and the Isle of Wight were not allocated any funds.

A further £900,000 is being given to selected authorities to experiment with new roadbuilding solutions to help prevent damage to cars before it occurs. One is Blackpool, where a £100,000 scheme will see cameras mounted on vehicles to collect data on road conditions.
Grayling said: "People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family.

"We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads."
The extra funding, Grayling said, would ensure that "all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes."

Words above from article here
https://www.aol.co.uk/2018/03/26/councils-given-100m-to-repair-winter-damaged-roads/

I wouldn't relax too much - we had to avoid a large pothole when out earlier  

All the best Jan

Jan1 wrote:So will potholes become a thing of the past?

Apparently ...

"An extra £100m has been allocated to England's local councils in order to help fund road repairs in the wake of Storm Emma and the 'Beast from the East'.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling announced the extra funding, which will help patch up around two million potholes and help strengthen roads against future severe weather.

The funds were not shared out equally, with local authorities receiving different amounts depending on need. Devon received the largest sum, with £4.5m allocated on top of £2.5m already given to 'quickly repair the A379'.

Norfolk and North Yorkshire were both given over £3m, while Birmingham, Sheffield and the Isle of Wight were not allocated any funds.

A further £900,000 is being given to selected authorities to experiment with new roadbuilding solutions to help prevent damage to cars before it occurs. One is Blackpool, where a £100,000 scheme will see cameras mounted on vehicles to collect data on road conditions.
Grayling said: "People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family.

"We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads."
The extra funding, Grayling said, would ensure that "all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes."

Words above from article here
https://www.aol.co.uk/2018/03/26/councils-given-100m-to-repair-winter-damaged-roads/

I wouldn't relax too much - we had to avoid a large pothole when out earlier  

All the best Jan

It's going to need a lot more money than that, years of neglect and lack funds for councils to carry out essential repairs have contributed to the state of our roads, the extra? government funding is a joke will do little to address the situation

I agree Graham money is getting so scarce and that amount is just a small drop in the ocean, I fear we are going to have bad roads for many years to come.

Out today in the car and I happened to see a lorry marked 'Instarmac' apparently it's a hero

http://highwaysindustry.com/instarmac-there-is-a-new-hero-in-the-fight-against-potholes/

Safe driving - avoid those potholes!!!

All the best Jan

We had a neat machine working around these parts a while back which sprays a tarmac mix into the holes through a directable nozzle on the front.

Not really a solution though as it's the infrastructure, not just the road surface, that is disintegrating. Really needs digging out the current tarmac layer and relaying it, like they used to do, but haven't seen much of that in the last few years.

What little I know about road building - I have to agree - it seems it "really needs digging out the current tarmac layer and relaying it, like they used to do, but haven't seen much of that in the last few years."

Yes, these days they just do a cheap repair which doesn't last  

Big Sigh ...

All the best Jan

Long ago I can remember some of the motorways had developed tramlines so deep from the constant traffic, especially trucks, that you could almost rely on them for steering and had to make an effort to pull out of them to change lanes.

Some of the modern kit is astonishing, along the lines of agricultural machinery. Last time they were actually rebuilding the roads here they used one machine which melted the tarmac and dug it out and dropped it into trucks, which took it to be graded and re-tarred and returned, and road rollers with a mass of rubber tyres and a surprising turn of speed. Even the Barber Greene machines in between were an order of magnitude faster than the originals

http://www.bgp-group.co.uk

We were following quite a large lorry today, and we think it went over a rain covered pot-hole!
Talk about wobbled!
Not fun.

Our neighbour was having a little moan about the road tax fees going up!!!
Perhaps they may put it towards better road repair - although somehow I doubt it.

Safe driving

All the best Jan

I just remembered a couple of friends who worked for a road surveying company.

They used a large 6 wheel drive truck with a crawler box, loaded with ballast and with a portakabin on the back where the electronics lived (pre-computer days) - it worked by trundling along the road measuring how much the surface deflected under its own weight which gave an indication of the underlying structure.

There was also a support van which ran ahead putting down road cones, then went round the back to collect them again after the truck had passed.

They put out all the cones ahead of the vehicle, than ran into town to book a bed and breakfast and collect food.When they got back the truck was nowhere to be seen. Eventually they worked out that the driver and operator must have nodded off and the truck had gone of the road at a bend, through a hedge and was half way across a field before they woke up.

Oh I forgot

https://twitter.com/thebiggrog/status/977565802068107264

Potholes increase by third to half a million in UK piling on motoring misery

The number of potholes has risen 33% in two years and is worsening, figures suggest.

Some 512,270 potholes were reported to 161 councils last year.

The figure, from data requests to the 212 authorities responsible for roads, compares with 356,432 reported to 152 councils in 2015.

Considering those unable to respond to the Freedom of Information request, the RAC believes reports rose 33% over two years.

And the motoring organisation believes Britain’s true pothole figure could be as high as 674,000.
RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said thousands go unreported yearly.

He added: “We bel­­ieve the sheer size of the increase is fur­th­­er proof the condition of our roads is worsening.”
Potholes can damage vehicle shock absorbers, suspension springs and wheels.

The AA has called for learner drivers to have to prove they can spot potholes to pass the driving test.

Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s (LGA) transport spokesman, said councils are fixing a pothole every 21 seconds but need more funding to “embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed”.

He added: “The LGA has been calling on the Government to annually reinvest a portion of existing fuel duty into local road maintenance which would generate much-needed funding for councils to spend on addressing the £9.3 billion roads repair backlog.”

The above words from here
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/potholes-increase-by-third-to-half-a-million-in-uk-piling-on-motoring-misery/ar-BBRvCmn?ocid=spartanntp

Happy Driving - Take Care

All the best Jan