UK roads - why?!

robbo2011

That was in Ticino, it may well be different down there.

The roads in Northern Switzerland are fantastic.

SmellTheGlove

Out in Hertfordshire and Cambs at the weekend, and have to say that the worst surfaces were on stretches where single tracks had been widened - the "improved" bits noticeably breaking up at the seams, and at junctions again where the joins were. Some proper shockers in terms of potholes there, but it was also noticeable how many of those lanes had been acting as watercourses. Layers of of silt and gravel building up, but also standing water through which every passing tyre transmits a hydraulic shock. Not mine obviously, they're only 23s, but cars and trucks were surely doing a good job of hammering the surfaces.
As for my daily city routes, I reckon crap surfaces are used as a kind of de facto traffic calming measure in some places. I have encountered a hole the size of a dustbin lid that's appeared over night on one local stretch, and not even in winter. If summer continues in this vein I'll be investing in a crosser or dusting off the MTB.

xixang

Capt Slog wrote:

I have a feeling that some of the problem is due to the way the councils are allowed to spend money.

Anyone who has worked for any large institution knows about "year end". Each dept is allocated a certain amount of cash/funds and they have to spend just up to that by the end of the company's financial year. Go over and you are in trouble, go under and you don't get as much to spend next year.

Although it works most of the time, it's a silly system because it doesn't allow money to carry over. I reckon this is why we sometimes see a spate of crap road repairs spread out across a wide area (and more often totally unnecessary), when it would be more beneficial to save the cash and do a good job where it's really needed.

absolute BS and a popular misconception (along with what was termed "the mad March spend"). As an accountant in the public sector and having worked for a few local authorities/public bodies this is definitely not the case anywhere I have worked. It was maybe 20-odd years ago when I first started, but has long gone the way of the dodo. LA's (one's I've been involved in anyway) do not set budgets in this way. Where I currently work each department submits a financial plan lasting 3 years and the funding is prioritised and decided within the overall strategy and available budget of the authority (based on on central govt funding and permissable council tax funding (which in turn may be capped by central govt.)). It is not uncommon for depts to swing from large budgets to smaller ones and back as their requirements/priorities change. And carry over funding is common - either as slippage from year to year of as long as it has an earmarked purpose and isn't just saving for the sake of it!