Priorities, priorities ....

Wed 6 Jun 2018, 06:32

Filling pot holes vs tar and chipping the are totally different tar and chipping is normally done to a sound road surface to improve grip. Filling of pot holes is just that but they don't fill them. I see now the highways department keep sending someone out to mark around the same pot holes why bother if they have no intention of filling them in.

Mon 4 Jun 2018, 17:22

Filling deep potholes properly is expensive, tar and chippings less so. The surface is already breaking up. Cosmetic work done on the cheap.

Fri 1 Jun 2018, 14:24 (last edited on Fri 1 Jun 2018, 17:10)

Well all the loose chippings have ended up in the road outside the Rose and Crown in a large heap and we have already had a lady on a mobility scooter become stuck across them and we ended up having pull her off the mound, could do with the authorities coming round and removing them before any serious accident happens, what with that and the tar and grit that is being trampled in to our shops and pubs, and don't forget the dogs having to walk on the pavement and getting grit and tar in their paws ( WD 40 is best way to remove from paws but make sure you give the paws a good rinse after )

Yay update chippings have been swept up this afternoon

Fri 1 Jun 2018, 12:15

In the good old days, they used to use things called steam rollers. You can see one here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamroller
Later they used smaller diesel powered rollers, which still left a lot of loose grit. But nowadays I fear they do not bother, and just allow the poor motorist to act as the roller :-\

Fri 1 Jun 2018, 11:53

The storm has helped many of Rosemary's chippings to migrate down Church Street and beyond....

Fri 1 Jun 2018, 10:20

I've just returned from Portugal where I found that the roads, even in mountainous areas, were in truly excellent condition and almost pothole free compared with our own roads, even well used ones. It made me wonder how a relatively poor country like Portugal can care for their infrastructure seemingly far better than our, relatively rich country, can? They have been having the same ghastly weather conditions we have been experiencing.

Thu 31 May 2018, 22:32

Thanks Simon....oh dear, it's not sounding good. I was very surprised when I walked down Brown's Lane earlier that there are masses and masses of the chippings lying loose on the sides of the road. It only takes one of those chips to crack a windscreen.... so drivers beware!

Thu 31 May 2018, 20:36

Drove down Enstone Road in my bus this morning. Very much aware of the 200m of rumble strips it had become. Suggested to others at work that it wouldn't be long before the residents of Enstone Road could start complaining about what a noise nuisance it had become.
Drove down Enstone Road in my bus this afternoon. Not aware at all of any rumble strips effect.
I guess it got swept sometime during the middle of the day.

Thu 31 May 2018, 18:54

The High Street in Milton under Wychwood was "resurfaced" last Autumn, absolute shambles, lots of loose chipping that hung around for months, rough in places. Absolute disgrace.

Thu 31 May 2018, 18:46

Welcome to hillbilly country, folks, with our very own washboard road ....

Thu 31 May 2018, 17:30

I wonder if any member of the Town Council have experienced the cattle grid effect down Enstone Road? and reported the poor quality of road repair to OCC Highways Department. You wouldn't believe that a road surface could be ruined just by carrying out resurfacing.

Thu 31 May 2018, 16:50

Very good point Simon, why has one of the few roads in Charlbury that did not need maintenance been resurfaced when so many others are awful in comparison and haven't been done for years? Sheep Street, Park Street and just down from Wellington cottages are three among many. Ironically the resurfacing stops just before the pot holes at the end of Enstone Road, outside the Rose and Crown. Anybody know why this was allowed to happen?

Thu 31 May 2018, 09:30

This is, of course, one of the problems inherent with this system of road 'maintenance'. Too much gravel is put on to start with, and the excess then has to be swept up once the tar has set. Any chippings that don't bind into the tar while it's still tacky obviously come loose as well. Hopefully the contractor's street sweeper truck will come round before the road markings are repainted or - guess what? - the markings will be painted onto loose gravel and will end up down the rainwater gullies, blocking them up. When it rains, the gullies then overflow, and water runs down the road surface which, with the action of tyres, then helps the surface to deteriorate quicker until the nice new tar-and-chips coating has worn through. The road below Wellington Cottages illustrates the point perfectly.

However, we digress again. I'm still waiting for an answer to my first question about how OCC prioritises road surface maintenance.

Wed 30 May 2018, 22:04

Yes I had the cattle grid experience up towards the crossroads, don't think it will improve.

Wed 30 May 2018, 21:53

I drove both ways along Enstone Road today and following the resurfacing there are several areas which feel as if you're driving over a cattle-grid; I assume the loose gravel has moved into what are essentially small sand dunes.
Horrible!

Wed 30 May 2018, 21:22

Rosemary - go and take a look at the stretch of road running down the hill from Wellington Cottages. This was resurfaced with tar and chippings some time ago, but that has not prevented the surface from disintegrating once the chips came unstuck from the tar and got washed away. Recoating a road with tar and chippings is a stop-gap cover-up. It's not a long-term solution to underlying defects - which Enstone Road didn't seem to have in any case.

Wed 30 May 2018, 20:00

I hear that the hot tar makes an impermeable skin under the chippings that stops the water getting under the tarmac via the pot holes thus further eroding the surfaces. To me this sounds like preventive measures. I'm not saying for a moment that the existing pot holes are not a disgrace, and dangerous, because they are.

Wed 30 May 2018, 16:57

Maybe it's something to do with bus routes?

Wed 30 May 2018, 12:01

Simon (no relation)I totally agree with you. Enstone road was in a good condition without the need for repair. Every other road in Charlbury is a disgrace, particularly Sheep Street, Fishers Lane, Pools Lane and Dancers Hill. Whoever makes these decisions has a lot to answer for.

Wed 30 May 2018, 11:59

Lets be generous it must make sense to someone? But I do agree with you Simon. Sense and logic out of the window on this one....

Wed 30 May 2018, 11:28

'Ang on, 'ang on .... going a bit off topic here. To reiterate - the County Council has a huge backlog of road repair work that it says is currently underfunded - yet priority is given to doing work that does not need to be done over jobs that are desperately wanted. A simple question - Why?

Wed 30 May 2018, 10:32

They have just passed me by then.

Wed 30 May 2018, 08:00

Exactly and the fact that there was a thread on this Forum with regard to the bus stop and the buses.

Wed 30 May 2018, 07:56

You mean like the notices at the cross roads for the past week or so?

Tue 29 May 2018, 22:58

It would have been nice to have been given some notice. I cannot believe that this work was decided upon this morning.

Tue 29 May 2018, 19:13

Please can someone explain? Our County Council is vociferous in claiming to be short of money, and its need to prioritise spending. How come, then, that one of the few stretches of road in Charlbury that actually does not need maintenance has just been resurfaced, while the street surfaces that are rough as rats remain untouched? The scriptwriters for the 1940s Ealing Studios comedies couldn't have made it up ....