Pot holes - No Excuses!!!!

by Griff

24 Jan 2011

Following a recent article in the daily mail titled " The Arctic freeze leaves behind 2 million potholes " I thought I would put a different light on the so called struggle to overcome freezing roads and potholes, as I am getting tired of hearing ,excuse after excuse, as to why pot holes are not being repaired.

There are products available that can be put into pavement surfaces that will overcome the problems caused by snow and ice, including potholes, the road builders just need to use them.

The issue of finance is also no excuse, as we remove over £750 million of reusable products from our roads every year and they either give it away to farmers to lay on their tracks, or they occasionally use it as a cheap secondary aggregate. This is tax payers money that would almost completely fund the road maintenance business, but it is not managed in any way.

Europe and America recycle millions and millions of tons of asphalt every year, and reap the financial and ecological rewards of doing so, but the UK does not, which is unacceptable, but try and talk to the HA about this subject and they shy away.

The highways agency, local government and the DOT are responsible for a multi billion pound public asset that is very poorly managed, there are simple solutions available for freezing roads and pot holes, and finance is available in abundance, if they managed their asset properly.

The UK roads building industry is very much stuck in the dark ages, they need to take their blinkers off ,open their eyes, look at what they have got, manage it better and speak to our neighbours a little more, and then our roads might be a much better and safer place.

I would be happy to discuss this subject further, if you feel it's relevant.

Best regards

Ian Griffiths