State Of The Roads.

[Tourershine]

We all moan about pothole dodging, and i'm surprised I don't get pulled over for drink driving the way I swerve to avoid some of the holes in England, but boy have we got it good in comparison to those poor drivers in Scotland!
I've just got home yesterday from a 3 day work trip around Scotland, starting in Dundee, then Edinburgh, Glasgow, and finally over to a stunning part of Scotland called Largs (amazing for cycling apparently)

The roads up there are absolutely dreadful. One of the hotels I stayed in next to Glasgow airport meant I had to drive into that side of the city for food at night, and I was astounded how poor the roads were. What I can only assume possibly started as potholes and weren't repaired, had developed into huge parts of the road being almost underivable on. The road markings and lane separations in many places were virtually invisible, they had holes far deeper than anything i've seen, and I drive 1000's of miles a month. Even parts of their main A-roads and Motorways were a patchwork of poor repairs and more holes.
The crappy thing was, it was quite noticeable once you got back into England, things were significantly better in comparison, and we have it bad here. I don't know if it's the whole of Scotland, and according to one customer I was talking to about it, they did have a really bad winter, but so did us in England.

The state of the UK's roads in general are really poor in comparison to many other countries, but boy will I not complain about them again, and feel really sorry for the Scottish drivers that care about their vehicles.

 

[DavRob]

We are on the border of West Lancashire and Sefton here and theres a noticable difference between the 2 boroughs. Lancashire County Council is obviously flat broke and the roads are a complete mess. Any repair work on large sections of roads is slow and poorly done with more and more sections deteriorating quickly. The council needs to start a mass maintenance scheme soon or its going to get out of control but I really cant see it happening if ever now! Viva La France in August for 4 weeks caravanning where the roads are like snooker tables!

 

[Tourershine]

We are on the border of West Lancashire and Sefton here and theres a noticable difference between the 2 boroughs. Lancashire County Council is obviously flat broke and the roads are a complete mess. Any repair work on large sections of roads is slow and poorly done with more and more sections deteriorating quickly. The council needs to start a mass maintenance scheme soon or its going to get out of control but I really cant see it happening if ever now! Viva La France in August for 4 weeks caravanning where the roads are like snooker tables!

I got back from France last Saturday and I know exactly what you mean. If there was ever a word that described the French toll roads, then silk would be that word. Yeah ok, you pay for it, but it's so worth it just to be able to look at the scenery and not the next hole to avoid.

 

[Dieseldonkey]

Your correct @Tourershine. The roads are shocking up here. Try being a road cyclist! I'm guessing that being further north we have more nights over the winter when the temperature drops below zero. Water in the cracks freezing and as a result expanding, breaks up the tarmac. The ice melting through the day and then the process repeating itself over and over is maybe the route cause. So perhaps the slight difference in climate causing freeze/thaw action may have something to do with the severity.

 

[Mooncat]

We have some shocking roads in the NE of England where dual carriageways become a slalom course to avoid holes in the road. But I can recall a trip to Galway in Ireland a few years ago in a converted ex police LDV riot van where we had to refit the interior trim after every drive. Those roads were brutal. I guess it's one way of getting drivers to keep their speed down.

 

[CRD]

This year has been especially bad in Scotland with salting going on right into early April. As you mentioned, repairs for the most part have been the 'emergency' half-assed type that barely last a week. Even our motorways are in poor condition in places- not good at all

 

[Dieseldonkey]

stunning part of Scotland called Largs (amazing for cycling apparently)

On the cycling note. If you fancy a day out on the bike in this area, Google 'Five ferries route'.

 

[Fish]

Mrs F. caught a pothole on Monday last week..

 

[Tourershine]

On the cycling note. If you fancy a day out on the bike in this area, Google 'Five ferries route'.
View attachment 21088

That's the route my customer was talking about.

Mrs F. caught a pothole on Monday last week..

View attachment 21097

They were like that when I sold them to you
That must of been one hell of a hole.

 

[DaveyB]

Mrs F. caught a pothole on Monday last week..

View attachment 21097

Ouch! Good job she wasn’t driving your van.

 

[Fish]

Ouch! Good job she wasn’t driving your van.

As if..!

 

[Roadrunner]

One guy at work lost two wheels on his T4 to a pothole he had to get four new ones as he could not replace the ones he had on his camper. Council had a claim go in for it. The worst holes near me are a bout a mile away and if you are not careful both wheels go in as the holes are spaced across the road at wheel distance. Most locals drive on the other side or stop till it's clear. Upton is the worse place with LAPD's of holes one is so bad you can loose a wheel if you are not careful. If cars are on the opposite side people stopband crawl through and cars behind wonder what they are doing till they encounter the hole. Years ago they used to resurface the roads frequently not they stopped the councils are paying the price for neglect

 

[MicP]

They do seem to be getting worse.
However they can't fix them if they don't know about them. Leics has got an easy online form.
I reported one that appeared, the next day it had a yellow line sprayed around and it was filled the next.
I'm not sure how true it is but I heard something like if they don't know about it they can claim it was out of their control so you can't successfully claim against the council, however if it is reported then it's negligence if they don't fix it so they will fix it asap if it's been reported to avoid claims.

 

[Spokegg]

They do seem to be getting worse.
However they can't fix them if they don't know about them. Leics has got an easy online form.
I reported one that appeared, the next day it had a yellow line sprayed around and it was filled the next.
I'm not sure how true it is but I heard something like if they don't know about it they can claim it was out of their control so you can't successfully claim against the council, however if it is reported then it's negligence if they don't fix it so they will fix it asap if it's been reported to avoid claims.

Correct.
I use Fixmystreet.com almost daily! You can report all hazards on there like debris, mud, potholes, branches.....

 

[MicP]

Well it lasted less than a week, the tarmac /gravel/ dirt whatever it was they used to 'fix' it has completely gone already! As it's next to a man hole I'm guessing it's all washed down the gap. The speed at which it went I can only assume a massive sink hole will follow..