Extra dosh for potholes

[fras]

I'm assuming this is good news, although I'm sad about HS2
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67441085

[JammyDodge]

Ah yes. Using capital investment funding to plug operational expenditures (which you could have funded anyway), the sign of a great business mind (not)

[danfw194]

Ah yes. Using capital investment funding to plug operational expenditures (which you could have funded anyway), the sign of a great business mind (not)

100% this ^. Fixing potholes and other basic maintenance should not be dependent on shunning other infrastructure/investment projects. Fixed and repeatable funding should already be in place.

[WHBM]

How many times is this "extra money to fix potholes" going to be re-announced ?

Will the main change be for maintenance subcontractors and materials suppliers to put their prices up ?

[trickstat]

Ah yes. Using capital investment funding to plug operational expenditures (which you could have funded anyway), the sign of a great business mind (not)

100% this ^. Fixing potholes and other basic maintenance should not be dependent on shunning other infrastructure/investment projects. Fixed and repeatable funding should already be in place.

If the Government's line on this was genuine, people complaining to the relevant authority about potholes would have been told that they need additional funding from Government's to mend them but HS2 had taken all the funding.

[danfw194]

Unsurprisingly, the two tweets on this subject today from Rishi Sunak's Twitter account are incredibly tragic.

[tom66]

Instead of fixing potholes, how about having a road maintenance schedule that's reasonable enough that potholes don't constantly appear year after year.

It's just patching the problem and delaying the inevitable.

Also if we could actually paint lines on roads again that would be nice. So many of the roads around here have little to no markings remaining, especially in important areas such as around junctions.

[Ruperts Trooper]

Instead of fixing potholes, how about having a road maintenance schedule that's reasonable enough that potholes don't constantly appear year after year.

It's just patching the problem and delaying the inevitable.

Also if we could actually paint lines on roads again that would be nice. So many of the roads around here have little to no markings remaining, especially in important areas such as around junctions.

Part of the cause of potholes is the poor quality of surface finishing when utilities make "good" after work - there needs to be higher standards imposed on utilities but that would need an increased amount of post-work inspections and enforcement of rectifications which has an increased cost in highway authority staff costs.

[DB617]

Instead of fixing potholes, how about having a road maintenance schedule that's reasonable enough that potholes don't constantly appear year after year.

It's just patching the problem and delaying the inevitable.

Also if we could actually paint lines on roads again that would be nice. So many of the roads around here have little to no markings remaining, especially in important areas such as around junctions.

Part of the cause of potholes is the poor quality of surface finishing when utilities make "good" after work - there needs to be higher standards imposed on utilities but that would need an increased amount of post-work inspections and enforcement of rectifications which has an increased cost in highway authority staff costs.

It's becoming increasingly clear how essential this is. BT 'Openreach' in particular has gained a reputation for lancing through other utilities and doing a poor job of making good - just the other day a Council traffic engineer name dropped them to me when discussing leading causes of SCOOT detector failure. If Councils know that, are they recovering cost? Are they blacklisting subcontractors who are clearly have-a-go Handy Andies with a tarmac cutter?

Horizontal directional drilling has also become something of an issue. I obviously cannot name names but it is common knowledge on my floor at work that a certain third party's HDD contractor is taking the approach that doing utilities surveys, GPR and requests for mapping from other utility owners is too much like hard work so they just drill and hope for the best. Last time they were turned loose they destroyed two 8-inch sewers completely. There is a predominant view that 'well you can't detect vitrified clay so not much you can do'.

It's ultimately council and infrastructure firms' assets that are taking a battering, but these things also fall under HSWA and CDM, I dare say, so there are also government departments who could take an interest if they weren't equally under-resourced.

[Owain]

Also if we could actually paint lines on roads again that would be nice. So many of the roads around here have little to no markings remaining, especially in important areas such as around junctions.

... and on speed humps in particular!

When the paint wears off, they're transformed from a safety feature into a danger.