Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

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AAndy
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Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by AAndy »

A positive comment!!

Good quality road repairs are reasonably common, outstanding ones are rare.

The ones on the A3052 in Devon back in February are truly outstanding.

I know the road well, and in fact many of its pothole problems date back to 1979 when 15' snowdrifts blocked the road. Since the frost and subsequent plowing then damaged the road, down to the metalling and ever since just patch repairs completed, often without sealing or surface dressing the route (loose chippings method). ]

For the past 20 years the pot holes became pot ponds and then potlakes!

Well...no more. The resurfacing with HRA was nearly completed when I drove along the road. The drive was utter joy. The road undulated before, but no more , every repair section as smooth as a slate, including the joins and a camber that was slight but perfectly uniform.

Some of the very best tarmac laying .

Does anyone know if a new tarmac scouring machine has been released? A big part of that success must be down to that process though credit to the tarmac too.

A video of it here.
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tom1977
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by tom1977 »

Sounds like you got a decent pavement gang who knew what they were doing and cared about the result.
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orudge
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by orudge »

Around here, the council will occasionally properly resurface a road, lovely smooth asphalt, then a few weeks/months later will come along and surface dress it. I understand the reason for them doing so, but it certainly doesn't result in a nice smooth road!
SteveA30
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by SteveA30 »

Yes,I'd noticed the smooth A3052 along there this month. No more swerving from now on. Is HRA the harder wearing stuff? Most jobs start off smooth but soon crack up and then disintegrate, or, slabs are lifted out by lorries, revealing the lack of depth.
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Herned
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by Herned »

Near where I live the council actually resurfaced a tiny country lane properly, as in dug out the old surface and laid a new one with HRA. It's quite something, I cycle up there sometimes and it's like glass compared to the rest of the road network
fras
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by fras »

Be nice if you could persuade that gang to come to Cheshire East where the roads are in an absolutely DIRE state.
I got my council tax bill last week, together with a sheet telling me the breakdown of the budget for 2023. A full 70% of that budget is for social care. Not much left for anything else, with Highways on pretty thin gruel. Yet there seems to be plenty of money to build roads in this council, (Poynton Bypass, Congleton Link Road), and a grotesqe £1m cash camera installation on the Congleton-Macclesfield Road, so money is available, it's just being spent stupidly.
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jgharston
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by jgharston »

From my extensive research of USA roads through the watching of CHiPs, I have come to the conclusion that most American states spend money on building roads, then don't plan anything for maintaining them, judging from the spider-work of linear patches that most US roads seem to be made from.
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IAN
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by IAN »

Bodge repairs are the norm in Shropshire and Herefordshire. If you report a hole, eventually someone will come and spray a white line around it. Then several weeks/months later the repair may actually be done (the line has often faded by this time!)

Unfortunately, the contractor can only do holes of a certain depth so if they see another developing pothole, which could be easily sorted with early remedial work, they have to ignore it until it's deep enough, even if it's right next to the one that's being done - As the work is contracted out the council only pay for the highlighted holes. Previously the jobs were done 'in-house' which meant that the repair crew could travel along a whole section of the road and do the urgent repairs and the ones which would become urgent if left.

Typically it's a gang with a van who close a (minor) road for about 20 minutes while they do the hole. This involves a minor bit of digging, throwing in some new tarmac (which mainly looks like black gravel), and then thumping it down. Unfortunately, they don't seal the edges so as soon as the frost comes it just starts eroding again. It's not necessarily the fault of the people doing the job. I spoke to one of them while I was waiting for the road to reopen. He said that they aren't given enough resources to do a proper job and that the repair would only last a few months.

In Wales it's a totally different story, they tend to resurface complete sections of the road and do a good job e.e A44 between Rhaadyer and Llangurig.
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KeithW
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by KeithW »

jgharston wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 04:00 From my extensive research of USA roads through the watching of CHiPs, I have come to the conclusion that most American states spend money on building roads, then don't plan anything for maintaining them, judging from the spider-work of linear patches that most US roads seem to be made from.
Every state does it's own thing and climate makes a big difference, worse when you get off the state highways and onto county roads you are basically on what would be B Roads in the UK , at the bottom end of the spectrum you have unclassified roads that are basically unsigned

Take Ohio
I-71 which is well maintained and very busy
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9318168 ... authuser=0

US-40 the old pre interstate road - a good old fashioned S4 that is in pretty good shape.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9563486 ... authuser=0

Palmer Road - B Road heaven but lots of patches
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9446262 ... authuser=0

Last but not least a good old back country road complete with potholes, you can see why so many Americans drive 4x4's and pickups. This is the junction of roads B and 17 in Henry County Ohio. Unless you really know the back roads your best bet is to navigate by compass.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1806437 ... authuser=0

Ohio has fierce winters, not much snow but lots temperatures down to -20. You wont see many Tesla's out here, not only are there no charging stations but a Tesla doesnt cope well with potholes a foot deep. The only repairs around here will be down to the owners of the grain silo with a little money chipped by farmers.
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KeithW
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Re: Tarmacaden repairs - Well layed

Post by KeithW »

fras wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 00:47 Be nice if you could persuade that gang to come to Cheshire East where the roads are in an absolutely DIRE state.
I got my council tax bill last week, together with a sheet telling me the breakdown of the budget for 2023. A full 70% of that budget is for social care. Not much left for anything else, with Highways on pretty thin gruel. Yet there seems to be plenty of money to build roads in this council, (Poynton Bypass, Congleton Link Road), and a grotesqe £1m cash camera installation on the Congleton-Macclesfield Road, so money is available, it's just being spent stupidly.
Different pots of money usually and providing social care is NOT optional, the council has to provide it. In effect what has happened as the cost of social care has passed from central government to local government. The grants supposed to reimburse them have not risen meaningfully for decades. I just got my council tax bill too which is now well over £2700 per annum (band E) for a 3 bedroom bungalow.
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