Jump to content

Charging for roadworks


Bill

Recommended Posts

Saw on TV last week something about the government charging utility companies for traffic delays caused by road works. Not a bad idea I thought but then it dawned on me that the most annoying road works tend to be on the motorways and they aren't caused by a utility company but the government themselves. I've lost track on how many years the M62 has had speed restrictions for works that don't really seem to be going anywhere. Maybe we could get some rebate on our road tax??

 

Bill :( 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They've nearly finished road works on a crossroads near us Bill. I bet it isn't 5 or 6 years since the junction was resurfaced with lovely new kerbs & islands for pedestrians & new traffic lights. This time all the islands & lights have been ripped up & replaced with new in exactly the same locations ,complete waste of time & money & the road has been closed for 3 weeks. No different whatsoever apart from a 100 yard stretch of footpath been resurfaced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem with charging the utility companies is that it is not them who will be paying the fine but the customers as any additional costs will be added to your bills with that cheery little sound bite of "we are investing in the future of the infrastructure".

Davy i wish the council would come and resurface the footpaths down our street. they were last done thirty years ago and about two weeks later the gas company came along to lay a new pipeline in the street, result that the nice new tarmac was ripped up and once finished a new section about a foot wide laid back down. we now have a three stripe footpath on our side and we are lucky. The opposite side is a nightmare not so much potholes as cobble like areas. The tarmac has worn away completely to the white stone underneath leaving small areas of tarmac. Two streets away the footpaths are pristine tarmac. mind you our ex councillor live there.:wink:

(council will only investigate potholes on a footpath if they are of a certain depth. lack of tarmac means nothing to them as they are not potholes)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I worked on WBC 40 years ago & was involved quite a lot with the tarmac gangs, driving & doing some on site labouring too & it was amazing how many times we would get the footpaths resurfaced only for the various utilities to follow on & dig them up again. Six months later time & money had to be spent reinstating the footpaths  where utility work had been done. I believe there has been a suggestion made ,not before time ,that interested parties should get their heads together before doing any work & overlapping where possible to reduce disruption & costs. I remember the gang discussing that very idea 40 years ago & to think the bosses of these companies/utilities are paid mega bucks for supposedly being super intelligent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...