20 May 2013

Cheap roads fix

| Liam46
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There are plenty of road surfaces appearing on the Southside (e.g. Gowrie, Fadden, Chisholm) with the new, cheap, loose gravel on tar method of re-surfacing.

This is a noisy surface that increases tyre road noise, produces a poor ride especially with firm sports suspension and this is a surface that leaves loose gravel for weeks/months.

There is a safety issue that has crept in, that is I can see that road markings are not being painted for a long time after the job, presumably waiting for the surface to settle and for the gravel to clear.

I’m pretty sure we all pay enough in car registration and taxes to deserve a better service from ACT TAMS.

What do others think ?

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Jere13 said :

Has anyone seen how bady worn the new seal in Phillip is? This road is less than 6 months old and it looks shocking (and is still full of loose stones).

Sure have. Hence my reason for not using the road. If the government can’t provide a proper service I’ll annoy residents by rat racing through their suburbs.

Also, what’s with the state of Yamba Dr before the hospital north bound. The road surface has worn away to a slippery slick surface in the grooves. Makes for an eye opening drive whenever it’s wet!

Has anyone seen how bady worn the new seal in Phillip is? This road is less than 6 months old and it looks shocking (and is still full of loose stones).

La_Tour_Maubourg4:09 am 01 Jun 13

Could not believe it-just realised Bandjalong Cr between Caswell Dr and Banambila St has been re-surfaced….with hotmix!

tim_c said :

Jere13 said :

In summary she admitted that chipseal has drawbacks of causing stone chips and being rougher and noisier to drive on that hotmix but was selected due to it’s being more “economical” and allowing more roads to be (and I think she used the term loosely) “fixed.

She also noted that chipseal is used extensively around the world and that in Canberra hotmix is reserved for intersections, round abouts and “very highly trafficed roads”. Given that Tony Gill stated in parliament that 90% of the ACT roads are chipseal and the fact that adeleaide ave, the ACT side of the Federal HWY and the parkway are all coarse chip I’m not sure what “very highly trafficed means”.

Very highly trafficed by MLAs perhaps?

Chipseal is used extensively around the world, eh? Is that the developed countries or the undeveloped ones? And in most countries (ie. extensively around the world), water out of the tap is undrinkable – should we really be aspiring to follow these countries? (Yes, I know: Mayor Rattenbury is already following the undeveloped nations as he rolls out his third-world Police force (aka. speed humps) throughout the Nation’s capital).

Couldn’t agree more. I’m sure that dirt roads are cheaper still, and public buildings could be made without carpet or walls, that would also be cheaper. The “we’d have to raise the road budget by 6-8” argument is flawed as well. It doesn’t take into account community amenity, the cost of windscreen repairs, paintwork damage or the cheese grater effect coarse seal has on tyres.

They will never change though unless it’s raised as an election issue in the ACT. Why would they change their minds otherwise? If they spend more on roads the opposition will just say they are poor economic managers. Wish I could see a way of fixing this.

Jere13 said :

In summary she admitted that chipseal has drawbacks of causing stone chips and being rougher and noisier to drive on that hotmix but was selected due to it’s being more “economical” and allowing more roads to be (and I think she used the term loosely) “fixed.

She also noted that chipseal is used extensively around the world and that in Canberra hotmix is reserved for intersections, round abouts and “very highly trafficed roads”. Given that Tony Gill stated in parliament that 90% of the ACT roads are chipseal and the fact that adeleaide ave, the ACT side of the Federal HWY and the parkway are all coarse chip I’m not sure what “very highly trafficed means”.

Very highly trafficed by MLAs perhaps?

Chipseal is used extensively around the world, eh? Is that the developed countries or the undeveloped ones? And in most countries (ie. extensively around the world), water out of the tap is undrinkable – should we really be aspiring to follow these countries? (Yes, I know: Mayor Rattenbury is already following the undeveloped nations as he rolls out his third-world Police force (aka. speed humps) throughout the Nation’s capital).

Liam46 said :

Jere13 said :

Liam46 said :

Well this post is about the state of our roads , not the cars or their features. For your information my car is stock with factory features, there are no fancy modifications . I am just a commuter who is having to negotiate awful gravel roads every day, and we are awaiting the explosion in numbers of speed cushions, speed pillows etc around the place , please note they are not called speed bumps , that would be giving away their true nature!

Keep the pressure on them Liam. I have written to Katy Gallagher and Tams on numerous occasions

after this rubbish has been laid down around our area.

Thanks for that, what did they say ?

In summary she admitted that chipseal has drawbacks of causing stone chips and being rougher and noisier to drive on that hotmix but was selected due to it’s being more “economical” and allowing more roads to be (and I think she used the term loosely) “fixed.

She also noted that chipseal is used extensively around the world and that in Canberra hotmix is reserved for intersections, round abouts and “very highly trafficed roads”. Given that Tony Gill stated in parliament that 90% of the ACT roads are chipseal and the fact that adeleaide ave, the ACT side of the Federal HWY and the parkway are all coarse chip I’m not sure what “very highly trafficed means”.

tim_c said :

isn’t it great to see Mr Rattenbury implementing a third-world police force in our Nation’s Capital?!

NO, we already have one, or at least a Colonial one that owes its allegiance elsewhere.

Jere13 said :

Liam46 said :

Well this post is about the state of our roads , not the cars or their features. For your information my car is stock with factory features, there are no fancy modifications . I am just a commuter who is having to negotiate awful gravel roads every day, and we are awaiting the explosion in numbers of speed cushions, speed pillows etc around the place , please note they are not called speed bumps , that would be giving away their true nature!

Keep the pressure on them Liam. I have written to Katy Gallagher and Tams on numerous occasions

after this rubbish has been laid down around our area.

Thanks for that, what did they say ?

slashdot said :

They needed that money for the skywhale

Hmmm….$300 000, hot mix at $25/m^2, streets about 8m wide…1.5km of road…problem solved.

Liam46 said :

…speed cushions, speed pillows etc around the place , please note they are not called speed bumps , that would be giving away their true nature!

No, they’re more correctly called “Inverted potholes”, or in some other countries “Sleeping Policemen” (with the implication that the Policemen are sleeping on the job, so these great lumps are required to do their job for them) – isn’t it great to see Mr Rattenbury implementing a third-world police force in our Nation’s Capital?!

They needed that money for the skywhale, after all who needs roads, you should all be on bikes or these mythical buses that people talk about

Liam46 said :

Well this post is about the state of our roads , not the cars or their features. For your information my car is stock with factory features, there are no fancy modifications . I am just a commuter who is having to negotiate awful gravel roads every day, and we are awaiting the explosion in numbers of speed cushions, speed pillows etc around the place , please note they are not called speed bumps , that would be giving away their true nature!

Keep the pressure on them Liam. I have written to Katy Gallagher and Tams on numerous occasions after this rubbish has been laid down around our area.

Well this post is about the state of our roads , not the cars or their features. For your information my car is stock with factory features, there are no fancy modifications . I am just a commuter who is having to negotiate awful gravel roads every day, and we are awaiting the explosion in numbers of speed cushions, speed pillows etc around the place , please note they are not called speed bumps , that would be giving away their true nature!

I don’t think you could find a mid-priced car for sale these days where the manufacturer isn’t boasting ‘sports suspension’. They’re pretty much bunging it in every second vehicle these days.

I’d be very much interested to map the roads our local pollies travel to and from home/work and note the quality of them. Something tells me that they might be the best maintained roads in town….

magiccar9 said :

I’m known to complain a lot about these types of roads, particularly the damage it does to your car.
Everyone throws in the debate that the hotseal costs 10x as much blah blah blah. I call BS on this as I drove through Cooma on the weekend, and you know what I found…. all of their roads are hotseal! Who’d think that a little country town could afford to hotseal all of their roads if it’s so expensive?!
It’s about time the local government pulled their fingers out of their bums and listen to what the people are asking for.

Agreed. Not to mention the cost of damage to vehicles and increaced tyre wear. TAMS just say re: the noise that they get quiter as time goes on to the point they are only 1db higher, but by that point it’s probably 4 years into their 5 year effective life and it’s time to scatter the stones once again.

I have seen the same in even smaller towns than Cooma like Jamberoo in NSW (pop 935 according to wiki). All new country roads that are hotmix.

It’s really unbeleivable that they care so little for our safety or community amenity in Canberra.

tim_c said :

Clearly if you have “firm sports suspension” you’re not that concerned with ride quality – you’ve traded it for something else that you considered to be more important.

Having said that, I agree that the chip-sealing of roads dramatically increases road/tyre noise. Road markings don’t tend to stay around long, but worse, I’ve often noted that the spray/chip sealed surfaces are far more slippery in the wet than proper rolled bitumen. Although I wouldn’t expect that to be an issue of concern to TAMS noting how many of those slippery-when-wet Rattenbury Specials (traffic cushions) are being installed by TAMS.

Well in my experience firmer sports suspension isn’t a contributing factor when it comes to the loud tyre roar we get on Canberra’s coarse chip. We test drove a car on the weekend with 16inch wheels and standard suspension because reviews noted it’s “superb” noise damping, including an acoustic windshield and it was powerless to stop the noise of driving on the scattered blue metal on our roads.

Agreed if you have stuff/firm suspension and worried about a bumpy ride maybe you should sell them coilovers (I am guessing that is what you have) and get a good spring/shock combo 😛

but in all seriousness I am more worried about the F***ing HUGE rocks that fly up from the car in front and I worry about what I am kicking up I have 10″ wide on the back so yea I wouldn’t be fun to drive behind on those “resealed” roads. I don’t understand it either why do such a shitty job to have to redo it less then 6 mths later when you can do a better job for not much more and don’t have to do it again for years?

I’m known to complain a lot about these types of roads, particularly the damage it does to your car.
Everyone throws in the debate that the hotseal costs 10x as much blah blah blah. I call BS on this as I drove through Cooma on the weekend, and you know what I found…. all of their roads are hotseal! Who’d think that a little country town could afford to hotseal all of their roads if it’s so expensive?!
It’s about time the local government pulled their fingers out of their bums and listen to what the people are asking for.

Clearly if you have “firm sports suspension” you’re not that concerned with ride quality – you’ve traded it for something else that you considered to be more important.

Having said that, I agree that the chip-sealing of roads dramatically increases road/tyre noise. Road markings don’t tend to stay around long, but worse, I’ve often noted that the spray/chip sealed surfaces are far more slippery in the wet than proper rolled bitumen. Although I wouldn’t expect that to be an issue of concern to TAMS noting how many of those slippery-when-wet Rattenbury Specials (traffic cushions) are being installed by TAMS.

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