Roadworks: Not Too Much Going On

RideOnTime

So been on the M1 today and there are still lane restrictions and 50mph limit from well the whole bit from where I get on at j28 to j32.

I am thinking these roadworks have been on here for what seems to me like fricking years. So a few googles and it suggests they're still going to be there until the end of 2016.

All I could see was a bit of gesturing with a purple pipe, a guy on the phone, a couple of transit vans of roadsigns being moved, a couple of guys with a drainage pipe, a guy moving a small front-loader thing etc...

All in all not very much and this is over at least a 20 mile stretch.

Applying the same 'work' time logic that would mean the HS2 line would take 600 years to build. :shock:

RideOnTime

RideOnTime

bernithebiker

Try Majorca - they just resurfaced a good chunk of their best climbs in super smooth deep black tarmac, in the batting of an eyelid..........

capt_slog

bernithebiker wrote:

Try Majorca - they just resurfaced a good chunk of their best climbs in super smooth deep black tarmac, in the batting of an eyelid..........

Also seen that done in Italy many years ago. A big machine moves down the road, ripping up the tarmac in front, it sort of recycles it and mixes in some new, then lays it down at the back. I was told at the time that the UK road standard doesn't allow it, which is a bit ironic considering the absolute sh1te we put up with as 'standard'.

I have load of roadworks to contend with near me. They're putting in trams in Nottingham, which regularly blocks roads off, also widening the A453 which means that I presently can't even turn into work. When i finally get there, the council charge me £450 a year to park to pay for the tram-works, how I laugh.

markhewitt1978

Capt Slog wrote:

Also seen that done in Italy many years ago. A big machine moves down the road, ripping up the tarmac in front, it sort of recycles it and mixes in some new, then lays it down at the back. I was told at the time that the UK road standard doesn't allow it, which is a bit ironic considering the absolute sh1te we put up with as 'standard'.

And what do we do instead? 'Surface dressing' which consists of whacking down a lorries worth of gravel, spreading it over the road and hoping the cars will bed it in. In the meantime the result is impassible for bikes and the end result is not much better than when they started.

capt_slog

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Capt Slog wrote:

Also seen that done in Italy many years ago. A big machine moves down the road, ripping up the tarmac in front, it sort of recycles it and mixes in some new, then lays it down at the back. I was told at the time that the UK road standard doesn't allow it, which is a bit ironic considering the absolute sh1te we put up with as 'standard'.

And what do we do instead? 'Surface dressing' which consists of whacking down a lorries worth of gravel, spreading it over the road and hoping the cars will bed it in. In the meantime the result is impassible for bikes and the end result is not much better than when they started.

Yes, I quite agree.

I think it's that putting on a surface dressing counts as 'repair' (of the wear layer). But to take the wear layer off and relay it, requires that it's done to a certain depth, and as I recall, the Italian machine I saw doesn't put it down thick enough.

RideOnTime

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/fastest-road-marker-world-watch-4946580

respect to this guy...

Pross

Road recycling can and does take place in the UK. Surface dressing performs a different role (prolonging the life of the existing surface). Problem is, everyone uses roads and therefore think they are experts in their construction and maintenance

pblakeney

Pross wrote:

Road recycling can and does take place in the UK. Surface dressing performs a different role (prolonging the life of the existing surface). Problem is, everyone uses roads and therefore think they are experts in their construction and maintenance

We are experts in doing nothing though, and know it when we see it.
This has been covered before.
The work needs done, and it needs done properly but road "works" for years on end with the "workers" leaning on stuff won't get it done.
I currently drive past a woodland area where a small part has been flattened to be resurfaced for a small car park, say 20 cars.
The work started in August, has continued to today and the top surface still isn't down. Meanwhile what parking there was is full of machinery. It is bad planning, incompetence, or laziness.

MountainMonster

PBlakeney wrote:

Pross wrote:

Road recycling can and does take place in the UK. Surface dressing performs a different role (prolonging the life of the existing surface). Problem is, everyone uses roads and therefore think they are experts in their construction and maintenance

We are experts in doing nothing though, and know it when we see it.
This has been covered before.
The work needs done, and it needs done properly but road "works" for years on end with the "workers" leaning on stuff won't get it done.
I currently drive past a woodland area where a small part has been flattened to be resurfaced for a small car park, say 20 cars.
The work started in August, has continued to today and the top surface still isn't down. Meanwhile what parking there was is full of machinery. It is bad planning, incompetence, or laziness.

The A14 is similarly. It has taken a year of 50 zones to make very little progress until the last month. Austria. Gets project like that done in a few days, not spread out over years.

bernithebiker

MountainMonster wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

Pross wrote:

Road recycling can and does take place in the UK. Surface dressing performs a different role (prolonging the life of the existing surface). Problem is, everyone uses roads and therefore think they are experts in their construction and maintenance

We are experts in doing nothing though, and know it when we see it.
This has been covered before.
The work needs done, and it needs done properly but road "works" for years on end with the "workers" leaning on stuff won't get it done.
I currently drive past a woodland area where a small part has been flattened to be resurfaced for a small car park, say 20 cars.
The work started in August, has continued to today and the top surface still isn't down. Meanwhile what parking there was is full of machinery. It is bad planning, incompetence, or laziness.

The A14 is similarly. It has taken a year of 50 zones to make very little progress until the last month. Austria. Gets project like that done in a few days, not spread out over years.

'Elf and safety, innit.