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Roads replaced with gravel

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  • October 27, 2012 at 4:50 pm #17142
    Leviathan

    This is a bit of a gripe against Manchester and/or East Cheshire county council. This summer some signs went up around various spots where I have a mix of my usual routes. They said there would be road dressing. Sure enough the top layers were scrapped off and gravel chippings covered the road. The signs said “skid risk max speed 20”.

    Well I though this would be great to finally get some of the worst roads relaid with nice smooth tarmac all the way to the curb instead of just digging up the inside and causing more pot holes. So I waited weeks expecting one day to come across one of these patches laid smooth but it didn’t happen.

    I realised they were just letting the traffic bed down the gravelly surface and not finish it off at all. The chippings did clear but just ended up in a drift at the curbside. The potholes were barely covered and just turned into ruts in a permanently rough surface.

    I can understand if the councils have little money to spend of road resurfacing but this is not the answer, they are already degrading worse than the original surface in just three months. If this is an ongoing policy it will quickly make ‘road’ bikes pointless. I already have to avoid these spots: Park Road, Gatley; Marthall Lane, Ollerton; Common Lane, Lach Dennis. And I have seen more signs up.

    Anyone else seen these ‘repairs’ in action?

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Viewing 11 replies - 16 through 26 (of 26 total)
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  • October 27, 2012 at 9:01 pm #705097
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    Gkam84

    My whole village and many of
    My whole village and many of the roads around here are cover in this shit, its crap, goes everywhere but the potholes they are trying to cover. Its messy. They need to find something better.

    October 27, 2012 at 7:50 pm #705095
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    Jaltham

    The idiots from Devon council
    The idiots from Devon council put it at the bottom of a steep descent in town and forgot to say anything. Cue me at the top of the descent, already in a bad mood, On my way down I suddenly realise that there is a slippery road surface and try to compensate…
    I hit a parked car before I managed to get back under full control. I now have a scar on the inside of my knee about 4 inches long, surprisingly caused by Bottle cage!
    I still take it really slowly on descents and I live in Devon where every climb is rewarded by an amazing downhill bit… Bah!

    October 27, 2012 at 7:08 pm #705093
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    Raleigh

    They did this on my TT course
    They did this on my TT course (B10/9), needless to say, everyone’s times suddenly got worse one week.

    The worst thing was that before they put the chipping on, it was nice, smooth tarmac and I got a PB on it.

    ~X(

    October 27, 2012 at 6:22 pm #705091
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    Fringe

    Put it to your advantage and
    Put it to your advantage and buy a new bike that would be good on ‘chipseal’ roads, any cross bike or even better one of them nice Salsa Warbird gravel road racers…mmmmm nice.

    October 27, 2012 at 6:17 pm #705089
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    pirnie

    Seemed to be happening around
    Seemed to be happening around where I live in the lakes over the summer too. Made some of the roads extremely sketchy at times!!! and the road surface left behind was pretty poor too. I though it was just because the roads aren’t exactly heavily trafficked and so they were trying to do the bare minimum but it seems to be wider spread than that…

    October 27, 2012 at 6:04 pm #705087
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    captain_slog

    They’re doing this all round
    They’re doing this all round here too (Richmond Borough in south west London). Hopefully the loose gravel is dispersing but still the surface isn’t very smooth. Also it never seems to dry – could be more likely to ice up when it gets colder?

    The only advantage is that the work has made the speed bumps a bit less severe.

    October 27, 2012 at 5:36 pm #705085
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    A V Lowe

    Glasgow was testing a
    Glasgow was testing a ‘reverse gulley sucker’ a few years back. Instead of sucking *** out of drains it was set up to blow cold tar coated chips in to unprepared holes in the road. I asked the operator how long that repair (made without cutting back the loose edges of the hole, priming them with painted tar, laying coarse material as a structural base and fine for the finish coat) would last “About 6 months” he said. He was right.

    I tracked a road defect in Mill Road Crewe, which I passed over every 2 weeks. When I first spotted it (in the dark) I regret not taking a picture. It was a hole with a void beneath that you could stick your forearm down in to. Each time I’ve visited it has either sunken again, or has a new repair, suggesting that water is washing out the material supporting the road. Cracks are spreading out, settlement is obvious and detectable from the saddle of a bike, yet all the Council does every 2 weeks is spend another £200-£500 on another futile patch job.

    In Glasgow there are some slots that sink across the road regularly. Thay are where tie-bars were ripped out when the trams went 50 years ago and they have yet to fix the road properly!

    October 27, 2012 at 5:34 pm #705083
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    Leviathan

    ooh, thank you, it’s just not
    ooh, thank you, it’s just not me going crazy then. And the bugger has a wiki page. I don’t have a pick up truck.

    False economy is exactly right. If I lived on that road I wouldn’t just be narked, I’d be livid.

    And I’m amazed that people know the exact spot I am talking about in the whole universe, great specific knowledge.

    October 27, 2012 at 5:21 pm #705081
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    Some Fella

    Dont get me started on this!
    Dont get me started on this! ~X(

    Its cheap and its nasty. The one at Gatley is already coming apart and its only been down a couple of months.. To make it worse there was a lovely bit of what i call ‘European Tarmac’ (flat, smooth, well laid) just on the bend where some work had recently been done. Then these ‘dressers’ come along and throw some tar and chippings down and obliterate it!
    Its awful when its just been done – you think you tyre is going to go any minute and cars throw the chips up into your face. Then after a week or so the gutter is just a gravel trap waiting to throw you from your steed.
    Even when it has settled down it is a horrible surface to cycle on. Truly awful.
    They have also done ii on the old A34 between Wilmslow and Alderley.
    Its a false economy and just a concession to people who (rightly) moan about the state of the roads.
    Its turd polishing.
    Ive not noticed Manchester doing it (they use an equally crap method of just covering potholes and running) but Salford do it too and i think Stockport are guilty.

    October 27, 2012 at 5:15 pm #705079
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    Stumps

    Yep, north tyneside council
    Yep, north tyneside council did the same outside my house. The road, once smooth with the occasional pot hole, is now rough with drifts of kerb side gravel.

    The noise it makes is ridiculous, sounds like a bloody boy racer with every car X( X(

    October 27, 2012 at 5:13 pm #705077
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    the_mikey

    It’s called
    It’s called ChipSeal.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipseal

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