Having travelled down to Gatwick this last weekend I could not help notice the work being carried on the road on the southern most section compared to road schemes in Holland and Germany it looked more like something Bob the builder was involved in,the lack of proper equipment , the small number of actual people and completely out of date building techniques is amazing to behold.I also noticed some quite new sections around Leicestershire are falling to bits already I wonder what guarantees the contractor gives on these projects to think that tax payers money is been given out to fund such sub standard works is most saddening.
subject line tweaked.
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 19/02/2008 at 18:12
|
5,000 people, plus a few hundred casual labourers built the original 55 miles from scratch in 19 months, including 132 bridges, 32 culverts, shifting 11 million cubic yards of earth and 13 tons of steel. It was a monumental achievement.
OK, there is existing traffic to manage now, but offset that by 50 years of technological progress, and you're looking half as long again as the original build time to widen 11 miles!
If that really is the best that modern technology, computer modelling and design and modern building techniques can deliver, we may as well give up now and go back to the days of Cholmondley Warner.
Cheers
DP
|
And of course when they do finish it, the wonderfull new road surfaces they use these days break up after the first sign of frost and end up full of pot holes.
I remember seeing a spectacular bit of machinery in Germany. An all in one re-surfacer that churned up the top layer, melted it, laid it back down, rolled it and cooled it with water. It just crawled along the lane on the road (ok, it was a 2 lane dual carriageway which made passing easier), had flashing lights and signs on the back to warn approaching drivers.
Why we can't have them here I don't know
|
so what about the A3 at Hindhead,delays till 2011.
So far they have coned off at least 2 miles at both ends of the roadworks, whilst for the next 3 years they do work on the middle section - only In England.
Why they couldn't do one end, and the middle and towards the end of the works, complete the other end
|
We don't often go down the M1 but did last Wednesday morning. On that widening bit we were joking about
a. How few workmen there were on the roadworks. (A few dozen - maybe 50 in total?)
b. The fact that the vast majority (90%) were not actually doing anything constructive - majority were on mobile phones, standing chatting, sitting in cab of a machine reading a "redtop" - we cheered when there was one bloke using a shovel.
c. The fact that 99% of the machinery was standing idle - I kept shouting "get that digger digging" (just in the car - not to the diggers!) and at last we saw ONE that was actually digging.
Same when we drove back up on Friday.
Mind you, it seemed to take about 2 years for them to build about 200 yards of an extra lane on entry to M1 at Fosse Park (M1 J 21) and same at J28 so that widening scheme on M1 should take another 20 years or so.
I have a neighbour down the road who is a builder, is on site at 7.30 every morning, works 'til dusk, half hour for lunch, cup of char while working mid-morning and mid-afternoon - I reckon he could have done the work at J21 in a couple of months with his mini-digger, laying the kerb-stones himself and getting a sub-contractor to lay tarmac - maybe I am totally wrong, but at least I'd be able to drive past at any hour of the day and he would be hard at work.
And don't mention the cost of these schemes.
Rant over
|
|
|
|
Regrettably, the interests of Joe Public and UK plc. are way down the list of priorities for many of our public services (sic).
It's amazing what can be done when the incentives are there:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=54...7
The saddest part is that we've come to accept it without complaint.
Kevin...
|
|
"the original 55 miles from scratch in 19 months" - and it then took another 19 years to rebuild properly!
|
Its like the High Level bridge in Newcastle - closed for 2 years (and counting) to 'repair' it. I bet it didn't take that long to build it.
Funniest part is that when it re-opens it won't be often to cars because of the weight, so only buses and trains can use it. Yes, that makes sense. Must have one of ken livingswines bunch in the city council!
|
There must be some sort of dreadful lurgy at work - or rather not - in the UK these days.
When I heard on the radio that the West Coast main rail line was to close over the end of the year holiday for repairs and re-open on such-and-such a day I looked at SWMBO and said 'want to put some money on it?' Civil engineering contracts often just don't seem to be carried out properly any more.
Don't even mention the words O******* G****.
I think, at ground level (sorry about the pun) Andy's mention of all the workers on mobile phones is telling. Today's culture seems to be that, rather than just getting on with the job you have to be on the company mobile, telling everyone exactly what you are thinking or doing (or not getting round to doing), all the time.
Long gone are the days when I was on the road and just got on with the job, checking in and updating once or twice a day when I happened to pass a phone box. My old man used to run an international lorry fleet successfully, just using the odd phone call, telex, or even telegram!
Time wasted in offices on email and internet (come on, admit it! I bet there aren't many like me, sitting at home) and wasted time on mobiles just telling other people where you are or exactly what you're doing must add up to the same sort of frightening figures as internet bank frauds that are never made public.
I'm glad I'm sitting on the sidelines these days, rather than trying to get people to actually do things.
Rant over (for now) yet again.
|
|
|
|
