To think there are more potholes than usual?

[malificent7]

More potholes but always roadworks...why?

Yanbu. It's awful round here. I'm constantly reporting them but the council shut the report down and say it doesn't yet need a repair. So I report again.

I've got uncharacteristically shitty in my latest reports now, complete with photo with red pen and SHOUTY capital letter text info added. Those reports aren't being closed funnily enough. They're not being fixed, but they are staying on the active to-do list.

They are awful in the highlands and they’re only about to get worse as we come into summer with people doing NC500 in their massive camper vans.

It’s constantly in our local paper, most local politicians main reason to vote for them is around the pot holes and there’s a local group been set up to lobby Scot gov and UK gov to help us. It’s that bad.

@Deathbyfluffy

Yep, this exact issue has cost me £1000 this winter. I can't afford to pay out anymore, I dread driving anywhere, especially in the dark and wet.

I've never really noticed before but the problem seems to have got loads worse over the last year. I find myself monitoring the road ahead of me for potholes in a way I never used to - in countryside and city. I missed one the other day and got a horrific jolt and was surprised I hadn't wrecked a tyre.

It's terrifying for me on my bike. I actually use an off-road bike, and the roads round here are literally more treacherous than gravel trails. I have no idea how cyclists with road bikes survive.

There should be a system where utilities and council need to collaborate regarding and repairs/maintenance, so there's not this ridiculous situation where the road is dug up multiple times in a few months. It really is largely down to piss poor planning.

It was the cold winter. Minus 10 temperatures plus lots of salt destroys roads. Plus chronic and ridiculous under funding of councils. However, in the drive to do things quickly, councils are opting for the quick temporary repair, which is a false economy in all but the most dangerous potholes.

Yes to residential streets in particular not being constructed for the current weight of traffic, and yes to buses and heavy vehicles chewing up the roads.

If you damage your car, you can claim against the council. They will pay out if they have not maintained a roads inspection regime and if you can prove that the pothole had already been reported to them. If they inspect the roads once a year and have done that properly then you may not win.

Where I live the roads have been dug up several times by different utilities, you name it each organization has dug it. Often the same road, similar places and different times. They don't seem to organise themselves and dig up what has just been laid by another utility. Then we seem to get potholes, I think just because it's been disturbed so many times but not put back correctly. I'm dreading them doing my road, it's OK now!

There is a scheme - in Scotland at least, under the Transport (Scotland) Act. No one is supposed to dig up a resurfaced road within 2 years. Trouble is that utilities have a get out of jail free card where they can say that there’s a leak and go in as an emergency.

Where I am it's a combination if 2 factors.

1. Old roads with surfaces that cannot cope with the volume of traffic.
2. 'Patch' repairs which are a short term fix, but are affected by adverse weather because rain gets into the small gaps left.

Where they have stripped off and relaid the road surface entirely, they have fewer and less frequent potholes.

Awful here. I keep reporting them and it says someone will come out in a week. A part of road near us regularly floods and is now just disintegrating. You can see all the previous reports on it, that start polite and then when there's never an update people just start getting sweary in their re reports.

The weather certainly hasn't helped, but neither has the councils insistence on sub standard repairs with low quality materials that are in no way long lasting. Rather than actually aiming to make the roads a decent condition its about plastering over pot holes and not investing in longer term fixes- I will say councils have had their budgets slashed so it leads back to the government.

Remember as well though if you damage your car going over a pothole if its been reported but not fixed you can claim for the repairs. Its worth reporting all of them even though there's loads, most councils have an app which makes it pretty easy.

I can't think of one road in my town that doesn't have huge potholes
Our council have made some piss poor investments IMO so there's no money to repair what we already have
How does buying a private castle help the people who live here ?

In the last decade or so I have noticed there are more potholes due to less road maintenance, especially worse in the last couple years.

We used to have great roads compared to a lot of Europe and the US! No longer..

To be fair, the road near me had the gas pipes renewed, road relaid and 2 days later there was, literally, a fountain of water coming out of where the gas work had been done. I understand it was an emergency but it didn't do the road much good.

I don't buy the weather argument. Iv3 driven in two EU countries recently, both locations where there are ultra low temperatures and snow/ heavy rain in winter, and high temps in summer. The roads were in amazing condition. In March ànd April.

Falling apart, the UK is.

I live in the SW, it’s a mix of weather and poor repairs.
The roads are utter shit here and the council comes out and does a very poor job at fixing them and within a week the road is crumbling again, it’s a mess, I’ve heard of peoples cars being written off due to the damage being down when they’ve hit one.
Theres one road (60mph) out of our village and it’s literally a mine field!

The freezing and thawing this winter.
They pour the tarmac onto old concrete roads instead of digging up the old road and relaying (too expensive inc concrete disposal).

Please do report any potholes you see on either FixMyStreet or to your local county council! if they don't know about them they can't fix them. Some councils are brilliant at fixing but others (Northamptonshire I'm looking at you!) only fix them if they are big enough for half a car to fall into and then only reluctantly. In my experience, mentioning 'bicycles may have to swerve into traffic to avoid the hole" provokes a more rapid reaction!

I agree! I was in Italy recently, and was amazed at how lovely and smooth the roads were, with crisp white lines. Although it wasn't just the roads. Everything seemed to be cleaner and in better nick.

I do this regularly.
Council say its Highways, and Highways say that the potholes, I'd not 5cm+ deep are not a priority.
Several are deepr, reported multiple times with the warning that it would be easy for someone unsteady on their feet to fall and injure themselves. Even that isn't having any impact.
Thinking of falling over on one myself next week deliberately.

on my journey there are loads in one area, on the left, so you have to drive virtually in the middle of the road, but then, a huge one on the right!
they fixed that, thank goodness
i just dont understand their reasoning.
must be hell for cyclists

In my immediate area they are ok, but was shocked driving Norfolk at the size and number of them. Some were totally massive!

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to make a difference where we are - the council are well aware and still do nothing 🙄

Shit workmanship also may play a part? Where companies lay roads they should be expected contractually to provide a.road that is able to take traffic and weather.

And where you have work requiring an increased HGV load, for example a house builder building a housing estate (temporary) or a new industrial works (permanent) they should be expected to pay to the council to cover damage that this increased heavy vehicle traffic does to the road imo.