Road Works

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Wed 25 Jun 2008 14:33
Road Works - RaineMan

I was in London yesterday and there were a number of delays, both minor and major, due to roadworks. The majority of these were due to the ongoing water mains replacement project. On walking past these I noticed that in many case the excavations revealed other utilities in poor condition. Surely if the road is being dug up it would be sensible to attend to all utilities that need attention? Or is it again a case of targets rather than common sense setting priorities?
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Wed 25 Jun 2008 14:53
Road Works - Lud
Sounds as if you were here on a pretty good day if there were only 'a number of delays'.

I don't believe they dig up the roads merely to obstruct traffic. But they take all the time in the world, and close off more of the carriageway than they need to, because these have been and are favoured by some of the powers that be.

There is a temporary bus stop outside my house at the moment. The reason is that the bus stop 50 yards away in the next block is being redone. I noticed some days ago that the kerb has been built out a yard into the road at that bus stop, not a full parking width like the bus stops in Caledonian Road behind King's Cross, just enough to make absolutely sure a stopped bus gets in the damn way. No doubt they will do the same on the other side of the road when they get round to it.

The LA put up a yellow notice apologising for the inconvenience of the works. In my opinion it should be left there, as the works have instituted a permanent, gratuitous inconvenience. Who gives these screaming carphounds permission to turn our roads into a moronic toilet of an obstacle course? Frankly I think they deserve to be tortured to death on TV in front of a huge guffawing audience.
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Wed 25 Jun 2008 16:23
Road Works - audi dave
Problem is: all the utilities have been privatised, so it's difficult to co-ordinate the works - you'd end up with contractors working on top of each other - a recepe for claims.

Other countries - like Japan - have a more enlightened approach than having a forest of services in the road. They use big concrete culverts with a continuous lid. To replace the service - lift the lids, replace the service, put lid back. How sensible.
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Wed 25 Jun 2008 16:39
Road Works - Lud
lift the lids replace the service put lid back. How sensible.


Yes. If only those Victorian bricklayers had had a proper understanding of the need for convenient telephone, cable, electricity, gas and water conduits for the quadruple-size London of the future when they were messing around building a couple of sewers in the West End... Bunch of idiots. No imagination. Typically British.

:o}

Edited by Lud on 25/06/2008 at 16:41

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