Please do not blindly criticise British Civil Engineering (I am a Mechanical Engineer working in the Construction Industry, so can see both sides [always a friendly rivalry between each type of engineer]) - it is the senior council/DfT officials and politicians who deserve most of the blame - the companies working on road building/resurfacing projects ONLY DO as their clients tell them, i.e. within spending limits, or occasionally to the whim of the official "in charge" (hair-brained schemes).
Good examples of this near me are the:-
A505 between Baldock & Rosyton in Hertfordshire: A decent stretch of the road which was deterirating was resurfaced with decent tarmac, other areas patch repaired (OK), then both were either ripped up or covered over with rubbish top-dressed chipping, which is very noisy (therefore much higher resistance, requiring higher fuel use) and is already wearing back to the previous layer (IMHO a cheapo job). A quick cheap "fix" to stop road users complaining (there are always reports about the state of this road on the Herts CCC Highway Fault Reporting website).
A603 (part) east of the village of Wimpole (near Cambridge) - exactly the same happened here as on the A505.
What a waste of money for both! When I saw the news story about the alleged DfT cock-up about the Rail Frachises, I was not surprised, given how bad transportation has been managed by public officials over the years, and particularly when the last Labour Government were in power (IMHO pitiful amounts spent on road repairs and lots of poor quality "sticking plaster" jobs to pretend work is being done - almost ignored by the majority of the press, ironically at a time when "bling-bling" ultra-low profile tyres were coming into "fashion" [I sense a stitch-up to see more tyres and car parts due to wear from bad roads!]).
Civil service for the "best and brightest" and "professional" politicians - yeah right! If only actual professional engineers and other practical people (including many under-valued working at the "coal-face") actually ran things, we wouldn't be in half the mess we currently find ourselves in! Too much short term opportunism for political reasons and not enough considered long-term strategic thinking! I suppose that's what we get for having a country run by "professional" politicians, lawyers, unions and media-types!
|