Quality road resurfacing in Gordon.

DUB said :

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What every one should complain about is really dodgy, quick-fix patch work carried out on Athllon Drive and Yarra Glen Drive.Disgusting!!!

Yarra Glen* (no ‘Drive’)

Its Only The First Coat…Like Paint You Need 3 Or 4 Before It Looks Any Good.

misssookie said :

I can’t understand why the Gordon neighbourhood roads are being resealed. Most of them are in great condition. It’s a huge inconvenience for drivers and likely part of some nonsensical roadworks schedule where you get the “upgrade” whether you need it or not. Perhaps I’m just cross because my car windscreen cracked on Saturday as the result of a stonechip…

They would have done better to use the money from these “upgrades” to do a proper job on Drakeford Dr. They’ve sealed little patches all over the place but not bothered to just lay a new surface. All they’ve done is make it bumpier, with the exception of the roundabout which was done properly.

harvyk1 said :

Yeah this is about the quality of the work which is done on suburban streets. Expect to get a few extra chip marks and don’t be overly surprised if your brakes need replacing in the next few months after a stone gets lodged in your brakes…

If a stone gets lodged in your brakes they were in pretty poor condition to start with.

This form of resurfacing not only leaves the gutters full of stones that are never properly cleaned up, it also seems to spread a lot of tar around compared to the older method.

For many days after my street was last resurfaced, car tyres were still picking up tar from the roads, resulting in stains to concrete and paved driveways. The neighbours and I had to make dozens of calls to get the contractor out to inspect the road, and have a go at cleaning the marks from our driveways with chemicals and high pressure hoses.

We all had a whinge to the contractor about the poor quality of the surface, and how tight the ACT govt is. The contractor told us this method was preferred by the govt because it’s a more environmentally friendly method than the traditional “hot mix”. No idea whether that’s really true.

I can’t understand why the Gordon neighbourhood roads are being resealed. Most of them are in great condition. It’s a huge inconvenience for drivers and likely part of some nonsensical roadworks schedule where you get the “upgrade” whether you need it or not. Perhaps I’m just cross because my car windscreen cracked on Saturday as the result of a stonechip…

Back to the bad old days..The ACT gov re-sealed Drakeford Drive from the lights at Erindale Drive all the way up the the Sulwood intersection with this stone-filled crap. This was done in ’97 and the story going around then was that they were averaging at least 2-3 claims for busted windscreens a month for at least the following year. Not sure if they ever stumped up the cash to appease some pretty pi$%ed- off drivers.

Yeah, in the ‘good old days’, Dept of the Capital Territory used quality ‘Hot Mix’ product to do quick reseals…no loose, flying stones, high quality smooth finish, quiet to drive on.

I gather the current trend back to old fashioned tar and rolled stones (as used in Gordon) is justified on the grounds that it costs about a tenth of the hot mix alternative, disregarding the costs of chipped paintwork, spills by motorcyclists and cyclists on loose gravel, brake damage, traffic delays etc.

Gungahlin Al said :

Cheapest solution available, doesn’t last, damages your cars, rips the crap out of your kids if they stack their bikes, signals the end to the neighbourhood kids getting together on the quiet street for a game or skate. And bloody noisy.

I’ve been pointing this out to people here and to ministers and Roads staff for 2 years. Until more of you all start sending emails to Simon Corbell it won’t stop. Coming to your street soon! corbell@act.gov.au

They did our suburban loop street a few months ago and it was a pain in the proverbial. I don’t know why they bothered in the first place as the surface seemed fine, no cracks or potholes. It’s a typical loop street where you can barely reach 50kph for more than a few metres if you really tried. Most people drive around 20-30kph, mostly residents who only drive through one half of the street. So there isn’t enough traffic (or speed?) to make that loose gravel bed in fast. Months later and there’s still heaps of loose stones in the gutter. It’s so rough that my daughter cannot ride her scooter on it. (And don’t even try walking barefoot to visit the neighbour across the road – ouch!). I much preferred our old surface and I wish they had spend their money on the (proper) resealing of one of the major roads that really needs it, like Northbourne Ave for example.

I’m not sure of the timetable, but you’ll get repairs like this about once every three years until the road is 20 years old, at which point you’ll get the resurfacing (as opposed to simply being resealed).

Welcome to roadworks, Canberra style, as they have been for the last 40 years? I can understand the outrage if you’re still a teen- or tween-ager though. You haven’t been alive for a full cycle of road maintenance.

Welcome to road re-surfacing ACT style!

This method has been used here in Canberra for many years, presumbably due to its ‘cost effective’ properties. In other words – it’s cheap – unfortunately that word is usually paired with ‘nasty’ and on these types of road jobs that is certainly the case.

You may still get another layer of tar sprayed on top if you’re lucky but it’s doubtful. Seen many of these type of jobs over the years to suspect you’ll be stuck with dodgy loose gravel for a few weeks/months until the local traffic tyres roll it in and/or the street sweepers clean up the leftovers.

Self-government, fantastic! There was once a time when the hot mix roads of Canberra were the envy of the nation – alas, never again.

I can’t see anything wrong in the picure, this resurfacing is just not yet complete: The drains are still plugged to prevent the loose gravel from running-off. At some time in the future, when the most gravel has embedded in the underlying tar, the loose surface will be removed. I’ve seen this many times before and the end-result’s quite workable and doesn’t throw-up many stones.

However I _would_ be worried if there are no warning signs of a loose surface and if it carries-on for too long.

Erg0 said :

I seem to recall a similar complaint in the past where it turned out that the work just hadn’t been finished yet.

That’s certainly what happened on Cotter Rd out at Casuarina Sands. It was left partially chipsealed (other parts nice smooth hotmix) in the middle of winter. Then about a month ago they came and finished it off…. and left some nice 1″-2″ dips for the manhole covers.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

It looks like the low traffic volume, low quality re sealing formula .

They used the same/similar approach on vast sections of the Parkway. Notice the shiny bits of road in the wheeltracks for many kilometres there? That’s where the stones all got spat up by cars (into paintwork and windscreens of nearby cars). Have a look the next time you are on the parkway….
So basically, you end up with a nice resealed road – everywhere except where the actual vehicle wheels make contact with the ground!
A lot of the original GDE was also done that way. Thankfully when they redid it recently, a lot of it was covered up with proper bitumen/asphalt (whatever ‘real’ road is called!) ,so now you don’t get potholes on it within 5 minutes of a rainshower….. Woohoo!

Cheapest solution available, doesn’t last, damages your cars, rips the crap out of your kids if they stack their bikes, signals the end to the neighbourhood kids getting together on the quiet street for a game or skate. And bloody noisy.

I’ve been pointing this out to people here and to ministers and Roads staff for 2 years. Until more of you all start sending emails to Simon Corbell it won’t stop. Coming to your street soon! corbell@act.gov.au

AFAIK this is the standard method of resealing in Canberra. It’s absolute crap, but no doubt it’s cheap.

It looks like the low traffic volume, low quality re sealing formula .

The usual method for this type of (budget) resurfacing is to leave it for a couple of days, then sweep up most (but not all, watch your windscreens and paintwork) of the loose gravel.

Yeah this is about the quality of the work which is done on suburban streets. Expect to get a few extra chip marks and don’t be overly surprised if your brakes need replacing in the next few months after a stone gets lodged in your brakes…

I seem to recall a similar complaint in the past where it turned out that the work just hadn’t been finished yet.

Interesting. They’ve just chipsealed over the top of the original hotmix bitumen surface.

Chipsealing is a lot cheaper than hotmix surfacing and produces a really s***ty road surface.

Whats with all the litter, pick up your game Tuggers kiddies.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Stones are totally detaching from the pavement in less than half a day.
It’s no less of a pain in the arse but it’s just excess gravel.

+1.
What every one should complain about is really dodgy, quick-fix patch work carried out on Athllon Drive and Yarra Glen Drive.Disgusting!!!

Looks to me like several roads I’ve seen that were part-way through repairs. That doesn’t mean they’re going to do any more work on it, but one can always live in hope.

Yes and they will probably continue to do so for at least six months, if the experience in our street (resurfaced 6m ago) is anything to go by. The street sweepers will come around on a regular but not-as-frequently-as-you-would-like basis.

Stones are totally detaching from the pavement in less than half a day.
It’s no less of a pain in the arse but it’s just excess gravel.