[JSPIERS]

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the level of road works being undertaken right across England. Is this Government policy to discourage driving. On Friday I wished to travel from just west of Thetford to Gorelston and then after a family visit back to Stevenage where I live. I started by trying to avoid Thetford itself where traffic was very heavy so went north to skirt Norwich. There I was held up for more than an hour essentially because the A47 seemed to be closed southbound. I was forced towards the centre of Norwich and eventually got to Gorleston an hour and a half late. On my return to Stevenage (late because of the earlier hold up) the A14 was closed westbound and after spending 45 minutes going through Newmarket I went south down the M11 to find that the A120 was closed. All in all I was delayed for around 3 hours because of roadworks.

A similar situation applies locally where roads are closed on numerous occasions. I have been driving for over 60 years and hav never seen anything like it.

Do any other people think that this situation is becoming intolerable?

J C Spiers

[Rolebama]

I heard a news item on the radio yesterday, that if all the roadworks that took place last year, were laid end to end, they would circle the Earth 18 times.
On a personal note, I have found Highways Agency website about ongoing and predicted roadworks, on major roads and motorways, to be more laughable fiction than the Fawlty Towers scripts I have.

[olduser]

Road repairs have been put off for years, we have now reached the point where there are lots that have to be done.
Often local authorities have to break road repairs into small sections because that is all they can afford, resulting in repeated roadworks on the same road.
The more extreme weather we have been having has not helped, tarmac cannot be laid in rain.
Cold lay tarmac is very expensive but even that do's not bond properly if wet.

All I can suggest is to use a satnav on a modern smart phone, these do remap if the traffic is congested above a critical value - they can usually be adjusted in the settings for things like the fastest route or shortest etc.
If the phone will link to the centre console, even better, when the phone remaps it becomes very easy to stop and investigate where it has remapped to, and override if it has chosen a route you think could be better.

[Drivingforfun]

I was in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago and it was quite bad. I ended up turning down a single track road that I'm not sure whether should have been on the sat nav as a road ... at times there was more pothole than road and I'm not exaggerating, it was like trying to tightrope walk the wheels on the bit of tarmac between the potholes 😂

[Santa]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

if all the roadworks that took place last year, were laid end to end, they would circle the Earth 18 times.

Reminds me of a very old joke, no doubt from a misogynist Oxford college: "If all the girls from Girton were laid end to end, I shouldn't be at all surprised."

*Girton is a ladies' college at Cambridge*

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

I was in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago and it was quite bad. I ended up turning down a single track road that I'm not sure whether should have been on the sat nav as a road ... at times there was more pothole than road and I'm not exaggerating, it was like trying to tightrope walk the wheels on the bit of tarmac between the potholes 😂

That is another peculiarity of tarmac - It needs to be used to stay in good condition.
Weathering causes the surface to become loose, letting water in but traffic recompacts the surface so in effect repairs the damage. It's all to do with bitumen is a supercooled liquid, it never sets, at normal temperatures it is still flowing but very very slowly.

[Santa]

@olduser

Bitumen is a very viscous liquid at ambient temperatures, but lack of use is not the leading cause of failure on lightly used roads. It's far more likely that this is due to those roads being constructed at a lower standard and less frequently maintained than busier roads.

"The viscous nature of the bitumen binder allows asphalt concrete to sustain significant plastic deformation,although fatigue from repeated loading over time is the most common failure mechanism."

[Santa]

@olduser

Bitumen is a very viscous liquid at ambient temperatures, but lack of use is not the leading cause of failure on lightly used roads. It's far more likely that this is due to those roads being constructed at a lower standard and less frequently maintained than busier roads.

"The viscous nature of the bitumen binder allows asphalt concrete to sustain significant plastic deformation, although fatigue from repeated loading over time is the most common failure mechanism."

[Drivingforfun]

Reminds me of this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experiment

[Nick]

I definitely agree that sometimes it feels as though you can't get away from roadworks - I'm not sure it's possible to drive South from Leeds to anywhere without encountering a stretch of roadworks. In general I'm ok as long as I'm moving - 50mph zones definitely help that. The more annoying ones are often the roadworks in local towns - usually related to a utility company digging up to upgrade pipes, or cabling - or laying new routes - this is a constant and totally leads to the old cliche of why don't they all just dig a hole and all get in at the same time - one company digs up for one thing, fills the whole and relays the patch of road they dug up - then in a couple of weeks another company comes and digs up the same or a similar patch for their stuff!

[olduser]

There is a dam locally, the accesses road used by many local people, it runs across the dam but the section over the dam is closed to traffic. This shows lots of loose chippings because it is not getting traffic to roll the chippings back in except at the end where visiting cars turn round, this part looks like the rest of the access road, no loose chippings.

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Nick

I definitely agree that sometimes it feels as though you can't get away from roadworks - I'm not sure it's possible to drive South from Leeds to anywhere without encountering a stretch of roadworks. In general I'm ok as long as I'm moving - 50mph zones definitely help that. The more annoying ones are often the roadworks in local towns - usually related to a utility company digging up to upgrade pipes, or cabling - or laying new routes - this is a constant and totally leads to the old cliche of why don't they all just dig a hole and all get in at the same time - one company digs up for one thing, fills the whole and relays the patch of road they dug up - then in a couple of weeks another company comes and digs up the same or a similar patch for their stuff!

Ah but the first hole was to fix say a leak, the second will be to fix damage to other underground services done by the first, often the damage is done when refilling the hole.🙄

[Rolebama]

@olduser I had fibre broadband fitted a while ago. It stopped working after a week or so. I 'mentioned' it to BT and EE, and they promised to fix the issue asap. When the repairman finally arrived, he managed to repair it. The problem was caused when BT Openreach were setting up for a neighbour, those wonderful gentlemen had snapped the fibre connection for my setup.