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Huge potholes force drivers onto 'opposite side of road'

"I am amazed the council have not classed the area as dangerous"...

A cyclist has complained that potholes in his local area are now so big cars are forced to drive onto the other side of the road to get round them. 

Jason Bromfield said that he is 'amazed' the council have not filled in the 'six inch deep' potholes as a matter of urgency.

The 43-year-old said he has to weave around them on his bicycle and they have gradually got so large that motorists now have to do the same, reports Staffordshire Live.

He says he has even seen some drivers go around bollards in the centre of the A444 on the wrong side of the road to get around the holes.

He is frustrated that highways authority Staffordshire County Council has not filled in the holes on the A444, Stanton Road near off-licence as an emergency.

Mr Bromfield cycles along the road from his home in Newhall to Burton for work each day as a security guard supervisor and says the potholes had got worse during the colder weather.

He said his wife had contacted Staffordshire County Council last week and a inspector was sent out to the look at the potholes and they were deemed a 'non-emergency' job and will have to wait for a while.

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Mr Bromfield said: "The affected area is getting worse. It is outside a shop where the kerb has been lowered and people use that part of the road to cross over.

"It is becoming increasingly dangerous, especially if young kids are crossing.

"I cycle to work and have to avoid going into the pothole by cycling out into the road.

"You have to slow down to ensure you avoid the cars and you can't escape them because of how busy the road is.

"Car drivers have to overtake the area which means they are going out into the wrong side of the road, which can be quite dangerous.

"I am amazed at how Staffordshire County Council have not classed the area as dangerous.

"The pothole is five or six inches deep and is taking over the road.

"I was very shocked when I got the email telling me nothing will be done and I don't think it's fair, especially on those people like me who use the road almost every day.

"Numerous potholes further down the road, which have not been as deep have been filled and no more than three or four weeks ago there was a lorry filling other potholes.

"It's an issue which needs to be resolved. The potholes are only going to get deeper and something needs to be done before it's too late."

James Bailey, assistant director for highways and the built county at Staffordshire County Council, said: "We know that potholes are a concern to people and our highways crews make every effort to fix them as soon as possible. 

"We do have a huge road network here in Staffordshire, with around 6,000km of roads and last year our crews fixed around 30,000 potholes.

“This year we are investing over £18 million on pothole prevention treatments, repairs and resurfacing schemes as well as a further £2M on maintaining and repairing gullies and drains.

“All reported defects are inspected as soon as possible and assessed for their severity. Any defect which poses an immediate risk is dealt with as a priority, and we aim to repair dangerous potholes within seven days. Lesser priority repairs are carried out when resources are available."

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27 comments

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brooksby | 3 years ago
1 like

Slightly OT, but... Bristol City Council resurfaced Queens road in Clifton, the road that goes from Victoria Square down past the student union.

Rather than using real tarmac/asphalt they simply road-dressed it with that dusty grey gravel stuff. They did this in April/May last year, so two lockdowns later it can't have had too much motor traffic going over it until the last few weeks.

Well, they've just re resurfaced it! It was coming apart, despite what one would imagine were lower than usual levels of traffic.

And, they've used exactly the same road dressing as the last time.

I find myself wondering what their road repair teams will be doing, this time next year...

(I also find myself beginning to wonder  which councillor has shares in a gravel extraction company...)

 

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
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Today, they've resurfaced part of Church Rd (A420) by St George's Park and they've done exactly the same - dusty, loose grey gravel. I think it's just a temporary redressing like they did last time.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
1 like

The road featured in NMOTD 572 is finally being resurfaced along its length. It was one that had been bad for 3-4 years with large patches of missing top layer stretching all across the carriageway on both sides. As more and more broke off it was lihe cycling through gravel when trhe rain and traffic piled it up in places. 

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brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
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So I presume it is Somehow better for their budget to do a slapdash temporary fix every single year rather then doing it properly once every five or ten years?  Is it really that economic??

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mdavidford replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
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If you spend the money on a slapdash repair this year, you demonstrate the need to spend that money, and can justify the budget for doing it again next year. On the other hand, if you fix them properly, then for the next five or ten years you won't need to spend that money, and when they next need doing you won't be able to get through the increase in budget for doing them.

Also, the slapdash repairs are often done towards the end of the budget year in order to use up unspent money, because otherwise someone will look at the underspend and conclude that you obviously don't need as much in next year's budget, leaving you without enough money to do even the slapdash repairs, never mind the proper ones.

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ktache replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
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One of the reasons there are so many roadworks in late March.

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andystow replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
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If you do e.g. 1/20th of your lane miles properly each year, the cost doesn't change drastically year over year, and all the roads are done properly.

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Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
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brooksby wrote:

So I presume it is Somehow better for their budget to do a slapdash temporary fix every single year rather then doing it properly once every five or ten years?  Is it really that economic??

This is a macroeconomic version of "Poor man's boots".

 

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spen replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
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I take it by that dusty grey gravel stuff you mean micro asphalt.  Microasphalt is used to extend the life of a road surface and is not a substitue for resurfacng.  Obviously the road surface was not in such a bad condition that it needed completely replacing

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spen | 3 years ago
1 like

Problem is that just the wearing course coming off so wouldn't meet the 40mm depth requirement for most councils to reagrd it as needing action.   Why drivers feel the need to go on the opposite side of the road to avoid that is beyond me, maybe it would put a hair out of place?

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Mybike | 3 years ago
1 like

they need to paint a big pe%$us around the pot hole like Geoff Upson did. They got fixed preet qwick after that.

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Jenova20 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Wouldn't it make more sense to just send out a repair crew each time there's a report, instead of an "inspector"? What a waste of money and bureaucracy.

I don't imagine there's a large amount of kids prank calling about fake potholes on their website or helpline...

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Hirsute replied to Jenova20 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Because Councils don't employ Direct Labour Organisations - DLOs.

The work is done by third party contractors. The inspectors manage the budgets and draw up the work orders so they have to set priorities for repairs.

Of course, if a Council did have a DLO, when fixing the current pothole  they could fix other issues nearby as preventative maintenance. No contractor will do that as they won't get paid for it.

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Bungle_52 replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
2 likes

But then they would have to pay the workers a decent wage and the third party bosses would't be making loads of money. I wonder why councillors make decisions like this?

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spen replied to Jenova20 | 3 years ago
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Also many reports grossly exagerate the depth, width and breath of potholes so to ahve an entire road crew driving round looking at 10mm deep "potholes" would be a monumental waste of money

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S13SFC | 3 years ago
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Living in Staffordshire I can assure you the roads are shockingly shit.
 

Many of us choose to ride in Shropshire or Cheshire as the roads are so much better.

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lonpfrb replied to S13SFC | 3 years ago
2 likes

I wonder if James Bailey at Staffordshire County Council would find it helpful to have holes identified by some fluorescent phalluses...

In Kent we have the fiction that it's not a hazard worth repair until it's 5cm deep so obvious bias for motor vehicles and ignorance that is very likely a bicycle wheel failure resulting in serious injury.

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wtjs | 3 years ago
1 like

That's just an ordinary road in North Lancashire. Before we believe the '5-6 inches deep' claim, we're going to need a photo!

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
3 likes

//i2-prod.derbytelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article5363108.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_AR_TEM_30-04-21pothole.jpg)

Perish the thought that drivers could actually slow down. Although I find it hard to believe the claim of 5 -6 inches deep.

I saw this story on the same site, so it is not just cyclists who don't see justice.

https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/burton-news/amazon-driver-wont...

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ktache replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
2 likes

I think the amazon driver was fully aware of what they was doing and no amount of education will be able to improve their driving.

Fully deliberate with video evidence.  A professional no less.

I reckon the van driver should make a claim against Amazon for employing a angry and violent person who used their fully liveried and identifyable vehicle as a weapon.

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Awavey replied to ktache | 3 years ago
3 likes

thats quite a shocking video and even more shocking outcome, surely the police could charge on the basis of driving like that is a danger to the public, having points if not an outright ban on the drivers license would then make it surely difficult to seek employment as an HGV driver elsewhere (yeah I know assuming the hauliers check which we know they dont always).

but as it stands that guy is free to carry on employed by someone else as a driver on the roads and just as likely to act out their road rage issues again like he's in some demolition truck derby.

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0-0 replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
3 likes
hirsute wrote:

I find it hard to believe the claim of 5 -6 inches deep.

That's what she said 😉

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Milkfloat replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
0 likes

Not sure I see a major problem here, surely any cyclist would be in primary on the smooth section. 

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Sriracha replied to Milkfloat | 3 years ago
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Milkfloat wrote:

Not sure I see a major problem here, surely any cyclist would be in primary on the smooth section. 

Not sure if you are making a deliberately crass comment.

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Hirsute replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
1 like

The photo from the news site does not show the 5-6 inch claim, so the comment seems a reasonable response to the photo we have.

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mattsccm replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
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Slow news day Roadcc team? I bet that very person in the country knows a bit of road where this is the norm.  Try something more exciting like, oh maybe "bikes have 2 wheels"

 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
2 likes

I don't think he is being deliberately crass as I would try to take primary. 

However a lot of cyclists wouldn't and if following a car, would not see the bad surface until it is too late. 

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