16 September 2013

Summer road resealing

| johnboy
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TAMS have put forth word of their plans to extend the dreaded chipseal:

With the weather warming up, the ACT Government today announced details of the 2013-14 road resealing program.

“Resealing of roads in Canberra is planned to start today on Boboyan Road,” Acting Director, Roads ACT, Ken Marshall, said.

“The resealing program, which is part of the ACT Government’s commitment to keeping our roads well maintained and safe, is particularly targeting those roads that have deteriorated as an inevitable consequence of ageing and trafficking.

“Resealing is designed to protect and extend the life of a road, while also improving its safety. As roads deteriorate with age and traffic use, small cracks appear in the surface which can allow water to penetrate and potholes to form. The annual resealing program covers about 85 kilometres of Canberra’s roads.”

Mr Marshall said a combination of resurfacing techniques will be used. Resealing roads with aggregate is used at a majority of sites as it ensures more of Canberra’s roads can be improved each year. The more costly asphalt resurfacing is done on highly stressed pavements such as intersections and roundabouts.

Work will be carried out by Downer Australia who are an experienced contractor using local employees .Roads ACT’s own crews will undertake asphalt patching repairs.

“The whole resealing program is expected to be complete in May 2014 with southside roads being done in the first half of the program,” Mr Marshall said.

The major roads to be resealed as part of the program include sections of Hindmarsh Drive, Melrose Drive, Monaro Highway Ginninderra Drive, Parkes Way and Canberra Avenue. Selected streets will also be resealed in suburbs including Deakin, Fisher, Lyons, Narrabundah, Yarralumla, Cook, Giralang and Kaleen.

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MightyJoe said :

Cowra, its got to be Cowra. Many a Cowra resident I’ve met over the years upon coming to Canberra have said that they were glad to be out of that hell hole.

Pork Hunt said :

LSWCHP said :

Jere13 said :

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

Oh yeah.

When I came here in 1976 from rural NSW, you could tell when you crossed from NSW into the ACT because the roads, and lots of other things, suddenly became beautiful. It was like moving into some sort of advanced science fiction world, instead of the crappy primitive world of 70’s rural NSW.

Seriously, as a kid it was like going up to the Elysium space station from some awful rural hell.

Now? The situation is reversed in many ways. It’s bloody sad.

Geez LSWCHP, where in NSW is this rural hell you speak of?

I will admitt I laughed at his comment haha.

Cowra, its got to be Cowra. Many a Cowra resident I’ve met over the years upon coming to Canberra have said that they were glad to be out of that hell hole.

Pork Hunt said :

LSWCHP said :

Jere13 said :

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

Oh yeah.

When I came here in 1976 from rural NSW, you could tell when you crossed from NSW into the ACT because the roads, and lots of other things, suddenly became beautiful. It was like moving into some sort of advanced science fiction world, instead of the crappy primitive world of 70’s rural NSW.

Seriously, as a kid it was like going up to the Elysium space station from some awful rural hell.

Now? The situation is reversed in many ways. It’s bloody sad.

Geez LSWCHP, where in NSW is this rural hell you speak of?

Jere13 said :

Yeah mate, I agree that plenty of rural roads are pretty bad in NSW, the point I’m making though is that the same crap is used in inner-city Canberra.

For exactly the same reason, money is finite and the underlying road surface has not degraded to the point of complete replacement. (unlike what happens on main roads in Sydney for example that get pounded day in day out by heavy vehicles in particular). Not the best for sure, but would love to see what you would give up to pave every road with gold.

JC said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

The Gocup Road between Gundagai and Tumut has been one of the state’s most run down roads for the last 20 years or more. It carries b-double trucks all day and has always been in a state of repair. At one stage, they reduced the speed limit to 60km/h for a stretch, because the road was too unsafe to travel at the normal speed of 100. Guess what, no hot mix there. It is a patch and repair chip seal by the local councils and if you didn’t have a 4×4, visiting Tumut was quite an adventure. Sure did your suspension no good either. Thankfully, they have just scored $11million to upgrade it by the Feds. I’ll let you know if they use cheap seal.
I totally agree with LSWCHP, back in the day I remember that eerie silence as you crossed the border, wondering what kind of fantasy land this Canberra was. Smooth as a baby’s behind were the roads, compared to the growl of the Barton Highway. They dropped the ball and let these futuristic pathways deteriorate into old wrecks that require constant maintenance.

Very common story (so see Jere13 not all NSW roads are better than Canberra), same too with the road from Yass to Cowra, plus most of the other secondary roads linking the towns in the region. The roads would have been built with hot mix at some point and resealed, but maybe not often enough for them to break up like they do, but sad fact, same here in Canberra there is only so much money to go around.

I still laugh though about the comments about how the roads in the ACT used to be. As I have said before, I can remember cheap seal being used as far back as the early 80’s. As a kid back then I loved it when they did my suburban street, as it was good for skids on my BMX.

Maybe back then the main roads they resealed with hotmix, but certainly not the suburban streets and streets like Florey Drive in Macgregor.

Yeah mate, I agree that plenty of rural roads are pretty bad in NSW, the point I’m making though is that the same crap is used in inner-city Canberra.

JC said :

Jere13 said :

Yes but the seal used in NSW is vastly superior. They tend to use a smaller aggregate and in many cases use a double seal with smaller stones on the top layer to reduce noise and improve stone retention. I’ve seen nothing but single layer seals in the ACT.

Wow what a sweeping generalisation. Now you do realise in NSW the RMS (old RTA) basically do the maintenance of main roads and that individual councils do maintenance on suburban roads?
The bulk of the cheapseal you will find in NSW is either on low volume highways, maintained by the RMS and the suburban streets maintained by councils, and each one will be different. So where in NSW are you talking about? Not Jerra by any chance, if so the irony is the roads in Jerra were built as sealed roads from day dot, but yes they do have a larger aggregate which is also much noisier than some of the Canberra roads, which depending upon road type use different standards of aggregate.

It is a generalisation obviously, but from my experience in the Ilawarra region, most of the roads are asphalt and the few that are spray sealed seem to be of a smaller aggregate that are quieter and seem to have vastly better stone retention. Have you seen the chip in Phillip? It’s almost all gone and there were loose stones everywhere.

I think it’s strange you’re defending the ACT’s roads when it is so obvious that we as a capital city have 90% of our roads (quote from the hansard) covered in Chipseal.

wildturkeycanoe said :

The Gocup Road between Gundagai and Tumut has been one of the state’s most run down roads for the last 20 years or more. It carries b-double trucks all day and has always been in a state of repair. At one stage, they reduced the speed limit to 60km/h for a stretch, because the road was too unsafe to travel at the normal speed of 100. Guess what, no hot mix there. It is a patch and repair chip seal by the local councils and if you didn’t have a 4×4, visiting Tumut was quite an adventure. Sure did your suspension no good either. Thankfully, they have just scored $11million to upgrade it by the Feds. I’ll let you know if they use cheap seal.
I totally agree with LSWCHP, back in the day I remember that eerie silence as you crossed the border, wondering what kind of fantasy land this Canberra was. Smooth as a baby’s behind were the roads, compared to the growl of the Barton Highway. They dropped the ball and let these futuristic pathways deteriorate into old wrecks that require constant maintenance.

Very common story (so see Jere13 not all NSW roads are better than Canberra), same too with the road from Yass to Cowra, plus most of the other secondary roads linking the towns in the region. The roads would have been built with hot mix at some point and resealed, but maybe not often enough for them to break up like they do, but sad fact, same here in Canberra there is only so much money to go around.

I still laugh though about the comments about how the roads in the ACT used to be. As I have said before, I can remember cheap seal being used as far back as the early 80’s. As a kid back then I loved it when they did my suburban street, as it was good for skids on my BMX.

Maybe back then the main roads they resealed with hotmix, but certainly not the suburban streets and streets like Florey Drive in Macgregor.

wildturkeycanoe6:30 am 14 Oct 13

JC said :

Jere13 said :

Yes but the seal used in NSW is vastly superior. They tend to use a smaller aggregate and in many cases use a double seal with smaller stones on the top layer to reduce noise and improve stone retention. I’ve seen nothing but single layer seals in the ACT.

Wow what a sweeping generalisation. Now you do realise in NSW the RMS (old RTA) basically do the maintenance of main roads and that individual councils do maintenance on suburban roads?
The bulk of the cheapseal you will find in NSW is either on low volume highways, maintained by the RMS and the suburban streets maintained by councils, and each one will be different. So where in NSW are you talking about? Not Jerra by any chance, if so the irony is the roads in Jerra were built as sealed roads from day dot, but yes they do have a larger aggregate which is also much noisier than some of the Canberra roads, which depending upon road type use different standards of aggregate.

The Gocup Road between Gundagai and Tumut has been one of the state’s most run down roads for the last 20 years or more. It carries b-double trucks all day and has always been in a state of repair. At one stage, they reduced the speed limit to 60km/h for a stretch, because the road was too unsafe to travel at the normal speed of 100. Guess what, no hot mix there. It is a patch and repair chip seal by the local councils and if you didn’t have a 4×4, visiting Tumut was quite an adventure. Sure did your suspension no good either. Thankfully, they have just scored $11million to upgrade it by the Feds. I’ll let you know if they use cheap seal.
I totally agree with LSWCHP, back in the day I remember that eerie silence as you crossed the border, wondering what kind of fantasy land this Canberra was. Smooth as a baby’s behind were the roads, compared to the growl of the Barton Highway. They dropped the ball and let these futuristic pathways deteriorate into old wrecks that require constant maintenance.

Jere13 said :

Yes but the seal used in NSW is vastly superior. They tend to use a smaller aggregate and in many cases use a double seal with smaller stones on the top layer to reduce noise and improve stone retention. I’ve seen nothing but single layer seals in the ACT.

Wow what a sweeping generalisation. Now you do realise in NSW the RMS (old RTA) basically do the maintenance of main roads and that individual councils do maintenance on suburban roads?
The bulk of the cheapseal you will find in NSW is either on low volume highways, maintained by the RMS and the suburban streets maintained by councils, and each one will be different. So where in NSW are you talking about? Not Jerra by any chance, if so the irony is the roads in Jerra were built as sealed roads from day dot, but yes they do have a larger aggregate which is also much noisier than some of the Canberra roads, which depending upon road type use different standards of aggregate.

gooterz said :

If anything they should make it 3 lanes each way to reduce accidents and spread out the wear.

It’s a pity that Defence Housing has taken up part of the land reserved for the 4 lanes each way carriageway.

JC said :

Jere13 said :

So I guess all the cars in Canberra will soon look like something from Mad Max with stone chips everywhere. We would need to make it an environmental issue rather than a community amenity issue for Rattenbury to care.

Why soon? This method of resealing has been used here for at least 30 years that I know of, my bet is a lot more. It is also something that is done in every other state, so again not something unique to Canberra. Even in Sydney they use it, though of course you won’t see it on main roads, because the traffic volumes they see mean hot mix is the only way to go because the surface becomes so deformed, here at least the surface is generally ok, hence why you see it on main roads as well as suburban roads.

Yes but the seal used in NSW is vastly superior. They tend to use a smaller aggregate and in many cases use a double seal with smaller stones on the top layer to reduce noise and improve stone retention. I’ve seen nothing but single layer seals in the ACT.

LSWCHP said :

Jere13 said :

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

Oh yeah.

When I came here in 1976 from rural NSW, you could tell when you crossed from NSW into the ACT because the roads, and lots of other things, suddenly became beautiful. It was like moving into some sort of advanced science fiction world, instead of the crappy primitive world of 70’s rural NSW.

Seriously, as a kid it was like going up to the Elysium space station from some awful rural hell.

Now? The situation is reversed in many ways. It’s bloody sad.

That’s how I felt as well. Canberra was a futuristic city that amazed me. Now we really are the bush capital with the roads of a rural town.

JC said :

…here at least the surface is generally ok, hence why you see it on main roads as well as suburban roads.

What fantasy world are you living in? Or do you not drive your car around Canberra? The road seal is horrendous on almost every main road (in one patch or another) and yet they focus on small insignificant roads each year.
+1 for the Parkway – someone is going to have a serious crash from those patches one day….

gooterz said :

30million is nothing compared with the cost of road deaths.

The parkway needs serious redoing, there are too many toboggan channels in the bloody thing.

If anything they should make it 3 lanes each way to reduce accidents and spread out the wear.

You notice all the wear occurs where people are breaking, funny that’s because the roads are too congested.

I’d say most road wear is done during peak hour and in winter by rain.

No point in adding the extra lanes to the left hand side of the carriageway, no one would use them.

LSWCHP said :

Jere13 said :

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

Oh yeah.

When I came here in 1976 from rural NSW, you could tell when you crossed from NSW into the ACT because the roads, and lots of other things, suddenly became beautiful. It was like moving into some sort of advanced science fiction world, instead of the crappy primitive world of 70’s rural NSW.

Seriously, as a kid it was like going up to the Elysium space station from some awful rural hell.

Now? The situation is reversed in many ways. It’s bloody sad.

Geez LSWCHP, where in NSW is this rural hell you speak of?

30million is nothing compared with the cost of road deaths.

The parkway needs serious redoing, there are too many toboggan channels in the bloody thing.

If anything they should make it 3 lanes each way to reduce accidents and spread out the wear.

You notice all the wear occurs where people are breaking, funny that’s because the roads are too congested.

I’d say most road wear is done during peak hour and in winter by rain.

What is this, the same stretch of Adelaide Avenue won’t get its (what seems to be) yearly resurfacing.

Jere13 said :

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

Oh yeah.

When I came here in 1976 from rural NSW, you could tell when you crossed from NSW into the ACT because the roads, and lots of other things, suddenly became beautiful. It was like moving into some sort of advanced science fiction world, instead of the crappy primitive world of 70’s rural NSW.

Seriously, as a kid it was like going up to the Elysium space station from some awful rural hell.

Now? The situation is reversed in many ways. It’s bloody sad.

Jere13 said :

So I guess all the cars in Canberra will soon look like something from Mad Max with stone chips everywhere. We would need to make it an environmental issue rather than a community amenity issue for Rattenbury to care.

Why soon? This method of resealing has been used here for at least 30 years that I know of, my bet is a lot more. It is also something that is done in every other state, so again not something unique to Canberra. Even in Sydney they use it, though of course you won’t see it on main roads, because the traffic volumes they see mean hot mix is the only way to go because the surface becomes so deformed, here at least the surface is generally ok, hence why you see it on main roads as well as suburban roads.

goody658 said :

Yep its noisy as hell, I hate that little bump then roar of sub par road works. Were supposed to be the capital great impression you get as you enter the territory. It does quieten down a bit if you drive slower eg a lot slower, maybe that’s what they want everyone doing well, well below the limit.

It really does annoy me, its not even consistent some of the roads look like a bad patch work of constant repairing.

Agreed. It is so short sighted. I really wish this had been a bigger issue at the last Territory election but little was said.

So I guess all the cars in Canberra will soon look like something from Mad Max with stone chips everywhere. We would need to make it an environmental issue rather than a community amenity issue for Rattenbury to care.

wildturkeycanoe said :

I’m talking about the fact Parkes Way is on the list of roads to be re-done in chip seal, not that it has already been used.

The bit they are resealing is the connecting road of Willam Hovell drive. This is the bit that was done using the shit base for what ever reason. This is one bit of road that I will agree 100% should have been done properly the first time, though as mentioned above and in another thread the core issue with this bit of road isn’t the seal, but the fact it uses the much cheaper initial construction method commonly found on temporary or low volume rural roads, not a main arterial road.

Pork Hunt said :

I say go for it so us New South Welshmen can drive on your beautiful roads “for free”…

Tolls for foreigners

miz said :

And perhaps we also need a post about which speed humps need maintenance. Top of my list is the top speed hump on Goyder St Narrabundah, where people actually veer into the turning lane to avoid the permanent pothole at the base of the hump.

Who do we sue for killing my car suspension?

Wentworth Ave remains a travesty at Telopea Park. Not that I complain much, this being only the fifteenth time…

And perhaps we also need a post about which speed humps need maintenance. Top of my list is the top speed hump on Goyder St Narrabundah, where people actually veer into the turning lane to avoid the permanent pothole at the base of the hump.

Who do we sue for killing my car suspension?

Snarky said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

And here I was thinking cyclists want to get OFF our roads. As for your suggested road tax, isn’t that already what registration is for and part of our fuel taxes?? I mean, rego is paid for by the weight of the vehicle, except for motorcycles who have to pay a whole load more per kilo and fuel excises are a massive intake of funds to the government.

Sorry, didn’t make myself clear here – the weight tax I’m proposing is IN ADDITION to the current rego fee. It seems only fair that road users should pay what it costs to have roads of the quality they want, doesn’t it?

I say go for it so us New South Welshmen can drive on your beautiful roads “for free”…

wildturkeycanoe6:05 pm 10 Oct 13

JC said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Chip seal is also useless, so why are they using it on Parkes Way, which hasn’t been even completed yet with a proper finish since the 3 lane expansion started? I’ve seen leftovers of chip seal used for fixing holes in footpaths and apart from not looking pretty, it doesn’t last very long at all under pedestrian traffic let alone thousands of tyres.

Where have they used it on Parkes Way? If you are talking about the connecting road from William Hovell Drive, then I am afraid chips seal isn’t the issue there, what is the issue is the shit base they put the chip seal on. This type of base is usually used for rural or temporary roads, never sure why they did it this way in the first place when other new parts of Glenloch interchange were done with hotmix.

If you are talking about Parkes Way proper, you may note the new lane is hot mix, and nothing has been done to the old, but yes it is chip seal. In an ideal world where money grew on trees and you could waste it willy nilly, then sure the exiting lanes maybe should have been resurfaced with hot mix, but reality is there is nothing, except for some minor maintenance wrong with those lanes.

I’m talking about the fact Parkes Way is on the list of roads to be re-done in chip seal, not that it has already been used.

Oh good. I assume that means that they’ll be re-doing the botched jobs (like the Federal Highway) that they re-did last year to fix the botched jobs that they did the year before that.

Perhaps it’s time to invest in a chipseal company.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Chip seal is also useless, so why are they using it on Parkes Way, which hasn’t been even completed yet with a proper finish since the 3 lane expansion started? I’ve seen leftovers of chip seal used for fixing holes in footpaths and apart from not looking pretty, it doesn’t last very long at all under pedestrian traffic let alone thousands of tyres.

Where have they used it on Parkes Way? If you are talking about the connecting road from William Hovell Drive, then I am afraid chips seal isn’t the issue there, what is the issue is the shit base they put the chip seal on. This type of base is usually used for rural or temporary roads, never sure why they did it this way in the first place when other new parts of Glenloch interchange were done with hotmix.

If you are talking about Parkes Way proper, you may note the new lane is hot mix, and nothing has been done to the old, but yes it is chip seal. In an ideal world where money grew on trees and you could waste it willy nilly, then sure the exiting lanes maybe should have been resurfaced with hot mix, but reality is there is nothing, except for some minor maintenance wrong with those lanes.

wildturkeycanoe said :

And here I was thinking cyclists want to get OFF our roads. As for your suggested road tax, isn’t that already what registration is for and part of our fuel taxes?? I mean, rego is paid for by the weight of the vehicle, except for motorcycles who have to pay a whole load more per kilo and fuel excises are a massive intake of funds to the government.

Sorry, didn’t make myself clear here – the weight tax I’m proposing is IN ADDITION to the current rego fee. It seems only fair that road users should pay what it costs to have roads of the quality they want, doesn’t it?

wildturkeycanoe3:28 pm 10 Oct 13

Snarky said :

Here’s a plan. Looking at some ABS stats, the ACT budget and Google we have the following info (there’s a fair bit of rounding up and down to nearest large numbers, but you’ll see where it’s going):

– there are 275,000 motor vehicles in the ACT, of which about 240,000 are passenger or non-commercial.
– an average passenger car weighs about 1250kg
– The TAMS total infrastructure maintenance budget is $155M
– Roads, bridges and other roady-things are about 20% of our infrastructure in $ terms
– An asphalt road lasts about 10 years. A chipseal road might last 5 years
– Chipseal is about a quarter the cost of asphalt, or, annualised, about half the cost because it only lasts half as long

So, currently the roads maintenance budget (not new roads, just maintenance) is about $155M x 20% = $31M and uses chipseal, mostly.
To use asphalt instead will cost about twice as much – lets say an extra $30M pa.

Where does the money come from? Lets say – road users. How do we measure this? Petrol consumption would be an ideal proxy, but that’s out of the ACT govs hands, so lets go with the road-destructive capacity of vehicle weight instead.

There’s about 360,000,000 kgs of passenger/non commercial wehicle tonnage on the roads, plus commercial and more – lets say 400,000,000 kg for the sake of argument. If we imposed a motor vehicle weight tax to raise the necessary $30M pa for road maintenance then that would equate to $0.075 per kg, or about $95 for an average car, or $1,500 for a 20 ton semi, or $1.15 for a 15kg pushbike.

I’d be happy to pay that per year to get decent roads.

And here I was thinking cyclists want to get OFF our roads. As for your suggested road tax, isn’t that already what registration is for and part of our fuel taxes?? I mean, rego is paid for by the weight of the vehicle, except for motorcycles who have to pay a whole load more per kilo and fuel excises are a massive intake of funds to the government.
And a “hear, hear” for tim_c. Why do they bother fixing all the potholes and then put in whopping big spoiler and sump smashers in their place? if a pothole 50mm deep can be used as an excuse for suing the government for damage to your car, why can’t the 50mm high speed bump be used in exactly the same fashion.
Chip seal is also useless, so why are they using it on Parkes Way, which hasn’t been even completed yet with a proper finish since the 3 lane expansion started? I’ve seen leftovers of chip seal used for fixing holes in footpaths and apart from not looking pretty, it doesn’t last very long at all under pedestrian traffic let alone thousands of tyres.

Snarky said :

There’s about 360,000,000 kgs of passenger/non commercial wehicle tonnage on the roads, plus commercial and more – lets say 400,000,000 kg for the sake of argument. If we imposed a motor vehicle weight tax to raise the necessary $30M pa for road maintenance then that would equate to $0.075 per kg, or about $95 for an average car, or $1,500 for a 20 ton semi, or $1.15 for a 15kg pushbike.

I’d be happy to pay that per year to get decent roads.

I would to, it should make my 600cc bike a lot cheap than it its, How come its about the same as a car? Makes me sad.

Snarky said :

Here’s a plan. Looking at some ABS stats, the ACT budget and Google we have the following info (there’s a fair bit of rounding up and down to nearest large numbers, but you’ll see where it’s going):

– there are 275,000 motor vehicles in the ACT, of which about 240,000 are passenger or non-commercial.
– an average passenger car weighs about 1250kg
– The TAMS total infrastructure maintenance budget is $155M
– Roads, bridges and other roady-things are about 20% of our infrastructure in $ terms
– An asphalt road lasts about 10 years. A chipseal road might last 5 years
– Chipseal is about a quarter the cost of asphalt, or, annualised, about half the cost because it only lasts half as long

So, currently the roads maintenance budget (not new roads, just maintenance) is about $155M x 20% = $31M and uses chipseal, mostly.
To use asphalt instead will cost about twice as much – lets say an extra $30M pa.

Where does the money come from? Lets say – road users. How do we measure this? Petrol consumption would be an ideal proxy, but that’s out of the ACT govs hands, so lets go with the road-destructive capacity of vehicle weight instead.

There’s about 360,000,000 kgs of passenger/non commercial wehicle tonnage on the roads, plus commercial and more – lets say 400,000,000 kg for the sake of argument. If we imposed a motor vehicle weight tax to raise the necessary $30M pa for road maintenance then that would equate to $0.075 per kg, or about $95 for an average car, or $1,500 for a 20 ton semi, or $1.15 for a 15kg pushbike.

I’d be happy to pay that per year to get decent roads.

Does that mean fat drivers should pay more?! 🙂

Here’s a plan. Looking at some ABS stats, the ACT budget and Google we have the following info (there’s a fair bit of rounding up and down to nearest large numbers, but you’ll see where it’s going):

– there are 275,000 motor vehicles in the ACT, of which about 240,000 are passenger or non-commercial.
– an average passenger car weighs about 1250kg
– The TAMS total infrastructure maintenance budget is $155M
– Roads, bridges and other roady-things are about 20% of our infrastructure in $ terms
– An asphalt road lasts about 10 years. A chipseal road might last 5 years
– Chipseal is about a quarter the cost of asphalt, or, annualised, about half the cost because it only lasts half as long

So, currently the roads maintenance budget (not new roads, just maintenance) is about $155M x 20% = $31M and uses chipseal, mostly.
To use asphalt instead will cost about twice as much – lets say an extra $30M pa.

Where does the money come from? Lets say – road users. How do we measure this? Petrol consumption would be an ideal proxy, but that’s out of the ACT govs hands, so lets go with the road-destructive capacity of vehicle weight instead.

There’s about 360,000,000 kgs of passenger/non commercial wehicle tonnage on the roads, plus commercial and more – lets say 400,000,000 kg for the sake of argument. If we imposed a motor vehicle weight tax to raise the necessary $30M pa for road maintenance then that would equate to $0.075 per kg, or about $95 for an average car, or $1,500 for a 20 ton semi, or $1.15 for a 15kg pushbike.

I’d be happy to pay that per year to get decent roads.

I don’t know why they bother trying to fix roads in the ACT anyway – all Mr Rattenbury wants to do is wreck them all with lumps and bumps. Would it be achieving the same net result if they just let the cracks and pot holes form, rather than paying money to fix them, then paying more money to install inverted potholes to stuff it all up again?

Excellent! Now I know where to avoid for the next 6 – 12 months.
When will TAMS pull their head out of their arse and realise that nobody wants their cheap, crappy ‘solutions’ for ‘fixing’ our roads.
I would actually prefer less roads to be repaired each year if it meant doing them properly.

Great. Hope it gets layed in the pissing rain like it did when they layed the chip seal in Grenville court its all gooooooone

Yep its noisy as hell, I hate that little bump then roar of sub par road works. Were supposed to be the capital great impression you get as you enter the territory. It does quieten down a bit if you drive slower eg a lot slower, maybe that’s what they want everyone doing well, well below the limit.

It really does annoy me, its not even consistent some of the roads look like a bad patch work of constant repairing.

The stupid, it burns.

How the heck is laying down jagged, loose stones making the roads safer. In fact if you do any research, the bigger the stones are, the less road holding you get and the sones in our chipseal are a lot bigger than those I’ve seen used in NSW or overseas.

Then there is the noise. Does the tyre roar on the ACT side of the Federal Hwy annoy the hell out of anyone else?

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