Can we talk about potholes please? Why are there so many?

[Irememberwhenitwasallfieldsroundhere]

Motorways seem to be reasonably well maintained but I recently drove from London to Oxford and the state of the roads is a disgrace.

Does anyone know why? Are councils or the highways agency not responsible for repairing the roads?

It's really shocking - my Waze tells me about a pothole every 10 minutes it seems.

Also, is there anything anyone can do about it? If enough people complain will councils fix the roads?

That's made me laugh. My MIL's porridge would have withstood a nuclear war. I now have an image of her wandering up the road with a big pan and ladle, dolloping it out and watching as it sets hard. 😃

I work on highways. For my LA it's a lack of maintenance. Years of chronic underfunding have meant road surfaces haven't been redressed as often as they should. When potholes are filled they should be cut out properly and sealed we don't do this we can't afford it.

When we do fill potholes we have cheap substandard material and the repairs break in days. At the moment we are swamped. Everyday we are getting 2-300 reports.

It's dire.

My theory is cars have got heavier as everyone is buying into SUVs. Electric cars are also heavier. Lack of council funding. I live in a town where the potholes aren’t too bad (Labour council), I work in another affluent town and the potholes are horrific. So deep the stones are appearing. The Land Rovers are doing a cracking job of making the potholes bigger.

A few years ago our son was out of work then finally he was temporarily employed to fix pot holes.
He said then that the material for filling up the hole was cheap.

Money or lack of is the main problem, not employing enough staff and because there has been a
lack of maintenance the councils are playing catch-up.

That’s down to the gas company not ensuring their contractors do a proper job, but it will be the council having to spend their money fixing it.

I live in a Reform Council run area and I have been pleasantly surprised at how many potholes have been repaired.

Limited resources

Potholes are patched, not resurfaced.

Councils are using cheap contractors, who use cheap road surfacing products, because the reduction in funding means they can't afford the good stuff that roads used to be made out of.

Contractors have a vested interest in patching rather than fixing, because they'll get repeat work.

Electric vehicles are significantly heavier (especially buses).

It’s pothole season. It’s the constant wet and cold over the winter months.

Last year our local council managed to patch them all up but it took a long time. Just about finished them before winter and then the whole merry go round starts again.

Also, they’re possibly trying to save council money and just doing a botch job rather than a proper repair. But I know absolutely nothing about road surfaces so could be talking bollocks.

Yes I think so, they keep putting this up

So many experts on this thread

We have a labour council. Our pot holes have never been this bad. It’s like an obstacle course getting to work.

Old shoddy repairs opening back up.

Lots more people driving (cars aren't the issue unless the ones churning up the roads are all driverless).

Bad weather (snow/ice/rain loosening the aggregate).

Councils increasing SEN and social care spending leaving hardly any cash for infrastructure maintenance.

Many newbuild developments being thrown up with no consideration for the existing infrastructure.

War of attrition between government and people; if the state of the roads put you off driving, the net zero driven government isn't going to be sad about it.

I find it very strange that the roads are an absolute mess but myself and thousands of other people running small or eco friendly cars don't pay road tax.
Surely they could calculate the cost of fixing the roads and ask people who pay zero road tax to contribute a little.

I think EV drivers are now liable for road tax as of last year. @Yellowshirt

It’s a combination of things, but money essentially.
The drainage grips - the sideways ditches that run water off of the roads into the drains/field ditches haven’t been maintained so water sits in the road causing frost expansion.
A lot of potholes start from badly resurfaced patches where utility companies have dug the road up and then water sits in the badly filled trenches - I can’t understand why councils don’t pursue them when it’s obviously been badly reinstated in recent years. Good old taxpayer can foot the bill again!

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-tax-for-electric-and-low-emissions-vehicles

That’s awful

My tyre blew the other day due to one! They are everywhere.

I've just reported a pot hole near my house. It's been there at least a week (probably longer but getting bigger) and I have only just remembered thanks to this thread. No one else has reported it yet. Our council has a little map and it will have a mark if it's already been reported.

People complain a lot about roads and pavements, however they don't often actually let the council know. How can they repair it if they don't know it needs doing.

Same reason why school dinners for children are so disgusting. Pay the middle man food contractors to deliver poor quality food to schools to heat up. Country is a joke, recently had an expensive repair to the car due to a pot hole.

I drive a 1 litre car 2014 registration. I've owned it for 6 years and never paid road tax.
Maybe the change will affect me this year but I renewed it in April last year and was still zero.

Maybe it’s a gradual rollout or they just made an error on yours @Yellowshirt

We have an EV too but my husband deals with all the car admin so I don’t know if we paid any last year or not.

Absolutely horrendous in Suffolk

Its next year I think.