Is it time for a radical change to road works?

[redlig]

No but you can't start at the end. We need to radically improve drivers, both there ability and attitude. And most likely reduce vehicle numbers. Before things like this can be implemented.
This is my whole point. If people want the disruption of temporary traffic management reduced then the first step is to change there driving attitude. Once the attitude is improved then the TM can improve.
Believe it or not it isn't set up for fun and even sites on 30mph roads are way more dangerous than they should be.
I have been hit twice by car wing mirrors in 30mph zones by people being impatient. Both occasions the site was being packed away and they couldn't be bothered to wait for me to walk past our vehicles get in one and drive away.
And you think the answer is to reduce the level of traffic management and hope for the best.

It's not that the driving standards need improving it's the general" ME" attitude coupled with the "couldn't give a ****" as long as I'm OK. No amount of legislation is going to have any effect and will ultimately reduce the freedom of the people who live within the rules of a caring society.

 

[God mode restorations]

The problem I see with it is this..I was in road construction for 30 years thankfully retired from it now...the products have change and the ways tarmac is mixed....its a load of crap now days....the amount of red tape crap that's involved in doing simple repair works is an absolute nightmare now....Health and safety is over the top...in my opinion it's all about presentation than actual good quality.

 

[redlig]

For some unaccountable reason when ever I see a piece of newly laid tarmac on a much complained of section of road now made perfect with no sign of multiple water co/gas co/electric co etc damage I have the desire to sneak out one night with a can of yellow spray and draw in a fresh set of markers .Just to see the local reaction. One day!!

It looks like my self control is about to be tested this week about a mile or two away but then I would be in constant fear that RWD 3M doesn't shop me.

 

[gaz1]

The problem I see with it is this..I was in road construction for 30 years thankfully retired from it now...the products have change and the ways tarmac is mixed....its a load of crap now days....the amount of red tape crap that's involved in doing simple repair works is an absolute nightmare now....Health and safety is over the top...in my opinion it's all about presentation than actual good quality.

it also dosnt help with the roadwork companys creaming it either as there is no real competion from other companys

can you imagine what it would be like if we started highering road crew companys from france to do the same job hyperthetical

its the same with rail track replacement the prices for replacement are extortion at best of times

 

[Erie Fred]

it also dosnt help with the roadwork companys creaming it either as there is no real competion from other companys

can you imagine what it would be like if we started highering road crew companys from france to do the same job hyperthetical

its the same with rail track replacement the prices for replacement are extortion at best of times

Also, it would help if the bidding contractor has to gurantee the roadway for 3-5 years., fixing it on their dime.

 

[Agrismith]

it also dosnt help with the roadwork companys creaming it either as there is no real competion from other companys

can you imagine what it would be like if we started highering road crew companys from france to do the same job hyperthetical

its the same with rail track replacement the prices for replacement are extortion at best of times

I think you would find that there is bugger all money in road works. The fibre gangs seem to do well but general highway improvement especially smaller stuff is terrible money both for the companies doing it and the lads on the ground. Looking at around half the rates of private work.
This no doubt adds to the poor quality of work as the rates rarely attract the better staff.
You have to be getting into what they call schemes before you start to see any type of profit.

 

[Pete.]

Services under the pavement outside my last job. Believe it or not they managed to squeeze a 300mm gas main through this lot.

 

[God mode restorations]

Services under the pavement outside my last job. Believe it or not they managed to squeeze a 300mm gas main through this lot.

View attachment 415978

Services of the worst kind

 

[Morrisman]

The problem I see with it is this..I was in road construction for 30 years thankfully retired from it now...the products have change and the ways tarmac is mixed....its a load of crap now days....the amount of red tape crap that's involved in doing simple repair works is an absolute nightmare now....Health and safety is over the top...in my opinion it's all about presentation than actual good quality.

Everybody in management, at every level, is trying to get everything 'perfect', whilst covering their own jacksi and making sure the sticky brown stuff runs down hill. They are indoctrinated with imaginary worst case scenarios, and what blame could possibly be linked to them if something goes wrong on their watch.

I went through years of it offshore, lots of people make a living teaching the science of the blame game, which is what safety policy has become nowadays.

 

[droopsnoot]

^ I guess as soon as "Sorry, I did my best" isn't enough to stop people getting potentially jailed if something goes badly wrong, you have to expect some kind of backside-covering will go on.

 

[bricol]

Yep, but in Europe the road gangs work overnights and weekends, very very few restrictions are in place for more than a week - but that would mean hiring more people and having spells when they weren't worked at 150%, can't have that, it would eat into profits!

I wish you'd been around to tell the lot working for months and months and months and months around Brussels that a few years ago, and for miles and miles, sorry, kilometre after kilometre of French autoroute on the way there - I must have spend weeks of my life in jams in European roadworks.

I did mention to some colleagues in the US at the beginning of the year, that I would swear the road works on the interstate through Toledo were the same ones as when I last drove through regularly . . .in 2005 . . .

 

[Erie Fred]

I did mention to some colleagues in the US at the beginning of the year, that I would swear the road works on the interstate through Toledo were the same ones as when I last drove through regularly . . .in 2005 . . .

"Toledo"
I-90 gets worked on every year in different stretches, 2005 to 2022 would be just about right
for the re-work from 15-17 years ago.
IIRC the Pennsylvania stretch (40 miles or so) got a major re-do around that time as well.
They built an asphalt plant next to the road back then, and they abandoned it a few years later, finally tore it down a few years ago.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

Only to build a new one 5 miles away by another contractor for this year:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[bricol]

"Toledo"
I-90 gets worked on every year in different stretches, 2005 to 2022 would be just about right
for the re-work from 15-17 years ago.
IIRC the Pennsylvania stretch (40 miles or so) got a major re-do around that time as well.
They built an asphalt plant next to the road back then, and they abandoned it a few years later, finally tore it down a few years ago.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

Only to build a new one 5 miles away by another contractor for this year:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

2005 I was regularly going from Cincinnati to the outskirts of Detroit - plenty of resurfacing going on back then - the 6" change in lane height from newly added asphalt in lane 1 back down to the original surfac ein Lane 2 made the Ford Contour I had do a bit of a death wobble . . what it was like on a motorbike . . .

 

[mtt.tr]

Towards the end of my last employment stint I loved road works, paid to sit in traffic.

Now it's my time I'm less enthusiastic

 

[bricol]

Towards the end of my last employment stint I loved road works, paid to sit in traffic.

Now it's my time I'm less enthusiastic

that's me and travel in general - travel for work, driving for work, don't mind delays, missed flights, traffic, roadworks etc when on-site somewhere in the world . . . but if I'm delayed on my 20min commute into the office, or worse, the 30min commute back home . . .

 

[Can'tWeld]

The mrs works at Broughton which is J32, glad they start after 32 as that sounds like a nightmare!

Mind you, they had a 50mph limit on just one side of the M65 for months, no workers in sight. They eventually removed it.

I was chatting with an RAC man a while back (he was towing my broken car home) and he said it's not legally enforceable if it's only on one side? Sounds like rubbish to me, I'd rather not chance it, though every other bugger was doing 70+ through it!