Cycling UK Forum

£420m to repair something like £9bn of potholes. I'm sure that'll work(!)

Too little too late.
First they announce an austerity plan,then let infrastructure deteriorate to such an extent that lives are lost because of it,and the cost in the long run far exceeds the amount needed to maintain the roads in the first place.
Typical shortsighted Tory idiocy,their incompetence knows no bounds.

We all know why there's no money!

It's more than just repairing potholes properly. I was out on a 45 mile ride this morning and what I noticed was that in several places there were obvious signs of blocked rainwater drains, where water was flowing across the road, add to this heavy vehicles, the occasional deluge and a bit of ice and it's no wonder our roads are falling apart.

philvantwo wrote:We all know why there's no money!

The bankers.That's bankers.
And yet,though there is no money,the Tories can afford the likes of HS2,the latest nuclear submarine or a billion to buy the DUP's alliegence to keep them in power,or the tax breaks for the rich,or not chacing the multinational companies for the taxes they owe.
Oh yes,we know why here's no money!

Am I the only person that thinks that including a faux-comedy photo of a doll in a puddle is inappropriate and insensitive?

peetee wrote:Am I the only person that thinks that including a faux-comedy photo of a doll in a puddle is inappropriate and insensitive?

Now that you come to mention it,but I was concentrating on the disaster that has been allowed to happen by a government doesn't give sh... you know what

Potholes are mainly caused by motor vehicles. How many potholes are found on a footway? How often are footways resurfaced?

peetee wrote:Am I the only person that thinks that including a faux-comedy photo of a doll in a puddle is inappropriate and insensitive?

No

MikeF wrote:Potholes are mainly caused by motor vehicles. How many potholes are found on a footway? How often are footways resurfaced?

Footways and cycleways are designed for much lighter loads, built cheaply so they do not last and are easily disrupted by roots or when water gets in/under them

Cyril Haearn wrote:

MikeF wrote:Potholes are mainly caused by motor vehicles. How many potholes are found on a footway? How often are footways resurfaced?

Footways and cycleways are designed for much lighter loads, built cheaply so they do not last and are easily disrupted by roots or when water gets in/under them

Do you think roads are built well enough to cope with the traffic that's using them?
IMO the roads are being built and repaired worse than ever when you consider the amount of traffic on UK roads in the 21st century.

reohn2 wrote:Do you think roads are built well enough to cope with the traffic that's using them?
IMO the roads are being built and repaired worse than ever when you consider the amount of traffic on UK roads in the 21st century.

Out in our rural areas there are some potholes that exist for several months, and (in some cases) years. I've found a useful tool is google street view, where an image from quite some time ago can be used as evidence of long-overdue repair! I had a phone conversation with a highway manager a few years ago, and he stated that the local tractors and other farm vehicles sometimes cause damage - he thought I was being unreasonable to expect the roads to be strong enough (especially as there's farms all around like)

peetee wrote:Am I the only person that thinks that including a faux-comedy photo of a doll in a puddle is inappropriate and insensitive?

It's not in good taste, but in the BBC's defence what they've done is simply reuse a previous video article on the problem of potholes, which happens to include the doll image (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-46012348/potholes-why-do-we-have-so-many-of-them). The doll's use in that video stemmed from a campaigner using them draw attention to potholes in his area (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-43962444).

slowster wrote:

peetee wrote:Am I the only person that thinks that including a faux-comedy photo of a doll in a puddle is inappropriate and insensitive?

It's not in good taste, but in the BBC's defence what they've done is simply reuse a previous video article on the problem of potholes, which happens to include the doll image (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-46012348/potholes-why-do-we-have-so-many-of-them). The doll's use in that video stemmed from a campaigner using them draw attention to potholes in his area (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-43962444).

I understand it's a snippet from that video but they could have used a more neutral image for the link.