Roadworks

[Steve]

I hve lived in my new house for 3 months now. Ever since I moved here there have been roadworks on the main road out of the town centre towards my house.

Most of this time, the roadworks have had single file traffic controlled by traffic lights, creating tailbacks at rush hour of up to a mile / 20 minutes.

The roadworks have involved several different contractors doing different works - gas, telecoms, water.

What I dont understand is who controls all this work? Do the companies have to apply to the Council for permission to dig up the road and install temporary traffic controls? Why are there no requirements for these roadworks to take as little time as possible, and cause as little disruption as possible? I think its ridiculous in this day and age that you can drive past these roadworks at 6pm after queueing for 20 minutes, and theres NOBODY working there!

Add to this the hazard of malfunctioning traffic lights - I drove past this morning and no lights were showing in any direction (an old gas powered wired traffic light set). Words cant say how cross this makes me! I mean, how hard is it to check a fuel gauge and fill it up before they go home?! And why arent all companies now using the new wireless sets?

 

[joe-90]

Stop whining. You should be glad you've got a house to go to.

 

[ladylola]

I have a friend who worked on the gas lines about 12 years ago or so . Now I will stress that I don't know if this is still the case but back then there was a difference in the price for digging. They would get the cheapest rate to dig the trench across a grass verge , a bit more for the pavement, and top price for digging up the road. So you can guess where they always tried to dig up can't you?

 

[empip]

Don't forget the awful c rap job they make of the final surface - which we have paid for in our utility inflated bills and which we will pay for all over again through various taxes when the surface breaks up and needs repair.

 

[Steve]

empip, on that note, there seems to be a lack of care on resurfacing jobs lately. They recently resurfaced a rural bridge nearby due to strengthening work. A country road but busy. Going onto the bridge, theres a lump where you go up, and then coming off you drop back down! And the tarmac on the bridge looks very "oily" and shiny when wet.

There is too much "satisfactory" work goin on nowadays - only "excellent" was acceptable in the past.

And digging holes on price work is fair enough, but the actual work in the hole needs to be sped up significantly.

 

[empip]

Not just recently, resurfacing has become another semi-skilled couldn't care less job... Anyone can do it as we can all too readily see.

-0-

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Actually under the National Roads and Streetworks Act, (NRSWA) if you dig the road up then you are responsible for the reinstatement for some years afterwards. Basically if its carp or sinks, the Highways folks can make you come back and redo it at your own expense.

AFAIK under the NRSWA the utilities have to apply to the highways authority for permission to dig, and unless its an emergency they try and tie works in together. However in practice the beaurocracy involved usually means one big cock up..... Gas leaks always seem to occur a week after resurfacing, I do wonder if the vibration from the roller is responsible for fracturing the gas main....

I suspect the Health and Safety brigade have slowed the actual works down. Whereas before work was done with an element of risk by guys who had years of experience, now everything has to be risk assessed, checked and double checked taking 10 times as long.....

 

[Nige F]

Stop whining. You should be glad you've got a house to go to.

probably a council one