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Revhead Ramblings: Our Battered, Old Roads

It seems you can’t go 100 yards without hitting a pothole on Britain’s dilapidated roads. From motorways to single-track lanes, road defects are everywhere.

This issue came to mind when I was driving back from work Tuesday afternoon, following my usual route I took a left-hand bend that nearly brought a motorcyclist to a grisly end. Instead I swerved, avoiding him but planting my driver’s side wheels directly into a succession of potholes.

Fearing the worst, I limped my wounded vehicle into a gateway and assessed the damage. A pancaked rear seemed the worst of it, after attaching my space saver, an aftermarket purchase, I made it home and sent my wheel off to be repaired. I later learned that my front wheel had buckled too; far from ideal.

Who’s to Blame?

So, thanks to my speedy reactions, I was faced with a £200 bill. Obviously, it could have been worse, helmet dents are notoriously difficult to remove from a bonnet, but it did make me question, why are potholes the size of moon craters allowed to exist?

A combination of the weather, underfunded councils and digging-mad utility companies are all to blame for our road acne.

New Homes Causing Issues

With each new housing development, power, water, internet and waste disposal all have to be threaded through, this often means taking up large portions of our roads. While we can accept road works for a few days, the ensuing repair work to poorly replaced roads are simply unacceptable.

The AIA (Asphalt Industry Alliance) estimates two million holes are dug by utility companies every year, however Transport for London calculates that 1 million are dug in the capital alone, making the former figure seem more than a little conservative.

Golden Age

We didn’t know it at the time, but 2007 was the golden age for our roads. The economic boom encouraged us to spend more on the backlog of road maintenance previously neglected, a run of mild winters also limited the number of new potholes being created too. It’s estimated that to repair all of the damages on our roads now would cost an extra £8.5 billion.

Is There a Solution?

It seems we’re trapped in a never-ending cycle, we continue to fill potholes at a considerable pace, but more and more continue to crop up. The only true fix would be to replace all of our roads with glistening new asphalt, however the cost would be astronomical.

For now then, the most we can hope for are well-maintained A-roads and manageable B-roads. As for avoiding these road craters, we just have to hope Pete Dungey comes along sometime soon with his bag of compost and brightly coloured primroses!

 

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