Heatwave and Gritters

[MikeT]

Reading a warning from the MET about the upcoming heatwave. It goes on to state tarmac softens at 27c, and may need a "sunblock" so there are plans to send the gritters out to spread sand.

Also, the rail network warns of tracks possibly buckling too.

Stay safe this week, and carry lots of water if practical.

[white exec]

Neither of those things happens here in Spain, despite our occasional temperature highs of 40-45C+.
We don't have a pot-hole problem, either, even in sub-zero winter.
Someone needs to ask some questions...

[MikeT]

There's not a lack of questions in this country, Chris, believe me!

[myglaren]

Just no answers

[Stickyfinger]

Heat/ The "type" of asphalt we have to use

PotHoles/ constant wet with low-level frost/freezing.

Both/ s**t councils

[bobins]

There's nothing actually wrong with the type of asphalt used or the way the councils / highways authorities maintain them - it's just that the damned motorists will insist on using the roads once they've been repaired or re-laid

[GiveMeABreak]

Well all the tarmac holding the chippings on the road has started to melt today - so I'm more concerned about treading all that crap into the house and on the car mats!

My OCD will be as high as the temperatures here in tropical Wales.

[white exec]

My cynical guess is that the tarmac companies in the UK talk to each other to maintain an on-going supply of sub-standard material, particularly for repair work. This guarantees copious future revenue.

How else to explain the fact that repeated potholes mysteriously disappear as soon as you enter France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Spain...? It's not that repairs are carried out more often (they're not), nor that the the weather-related factors (rain, frost...) are significantly different.

Maybe just another case of Ripped-off Britain? You would have thought highways authorities and government could have cracked this long-running and hugely expensive scandal. Maybe one for a Select Committee...

Here in Spain, small road surface repairs are tackled in a way that appears to be the same as the UK: digging out to a few cm depth, and in-fill with macadam material, tamped down. Job done quickly, and move on. Difference is, the repairs here last for untold years, despite often very heavy goods traffic.

So what's going on, then?

[Michel]

The simple answer Chris, is that the road repairs and resurfacing here in the UK are very badly and cheaply done. Two or three years ago they resurfaced a road near me and I asked my late father what he thought of the repairs and how it should be done. Given he's made his living out of designing roads and airports around the Gulf for the last 30 years he has a vague.

Cheap and nasty methods of repair is the main problem. Useless resurfacing processes.

[Homer]

How else to explain the fact that repeated potholes mysteriously disappear as soon as you enter France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Spain...?

I've driven on some pretty terrible roads in Belgium, and France was always known for it's bad roads (hence the excellent suspension on French cars). As for Spain, do they really get the repetitive freeze/thaw we get often on a daily basis? And I won't even start on the legibility of road markings over there which seem to be done in paint the exact same colour as the road surface.

[white exec]

I drive here in Spain extensively, France too, on main, town and rural roads, and don't recognise your description.
And yes, areas of Spain do have extremes of repeated high and low temperatures, and heavy rainfall.

All countries have some roads in a poor state - it's just that the UK seems to have so many, and long-term.
It's the quality of the repairs that I was questioning.

[Michel]

I drive here in Spain extensively, France too, on main, town and rural roads, and don't recognise your description..

I must agree. Driving to the South coast of France is a pleasure. The roads are great. Once there, all the local roads are great too. l also found the same in Andorra and Spain, though I only drove as far south as Valencia.

Oddly, the roads in Dieppe were terrible. Presumably this is to get. Brits used to driving in the UK again when they get off the ferry in Newhaven. I was shocked at the state of the roads here when we got back from France the first time.

[bobins]

How else to explain the fact that repeated potholes mysteriously disappear as soon as you enter France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Spain...? It's not that repairs are carried out more often (they're not), nor that the the weather-related factors (rain, frost...) are significantly different.

So what's going on, then?

I've been thinking about this (always a dangerous thing for me to do) - when you look at all the different metrics, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and Spain all have worse death rates on their roads. I wonder if part of the UK 'good' death rate is because - for any £ spent on UK roads - a higher proportion is spent on safety improvements and a lower proportion is spent on quality repairs and top coating compared to other countries who put a higher value on good road surfaces and a lower value of safety improvements ? I'm well aware of the stereotypical driving characteristics associated with certain countries i.e. some of them are reckoned to drive like tw@ts and so will skew the death rates , but actual safe design of roads and constant safety improvements has to account for a certain amount of casualty reduction ????

[GiveMeABreak]

Lower fatal death rates here because you simply can't go fast on the atrocious UK roads without the risk of going over a pothole and ending up in a Flintstone mobile.

[EDC5]

Lower fatal death rates here because you simply can't go fast on the atrocious UK roads without the risk of going over a pothole and ending up in a Flintstone mobile.

Agreed! There's a very good reason why 'everyone' wants a SUV style car these days. A bit more ground clearance and hopefully a slightly more supple ride to cope with the horrendous state of the roads.

Sounds a bit daft but if I was ever tempted to go into local politics I would stand on a 'Pothole First' basis; I'm sure it would be a popular policy