The Lemon Fool

We're about to get a cold snap. After the two week deluge we've all had, the roads will be wet when they freeze.

Expect more potholes and existing potholes to become sinkholes.

Contrast how far we've come with smart phone technology, with our roads not much more durable than the Romans constructed.

And what did they ever do for us?

Funnily enough was just reading about a Swiss village that had roads that mixed waste plastic granules in with the tar (an invention from a Scottish company it says).

Testing is still ongoing, but the mix is apparently much more flexible and less likely to cracking etc than normal tarmac.Their temperature ranges are much more extreme than the UK.

Tedx wrote:Funnily enough was just reading about a Swiss village that had roads that mixed waste plastic granules in with the tar (an invention from a Scottish company it says).

I expect that'll be MacRebur. Which is the last of the companies mentioned in https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... 20#p473048

Leothebear wrote: Contrast how far we've come with smart phone technology, with our roads not much more durable than the Romans constructed.
And what did they ever do for us?

A lot, Caesar salad for example.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Tedx wrote:Funnily enough was just reading about a Swiss village that had roads that mixed waste plastic granules in with the tar (an invention from a Scottish company it says).

I expect that'll be MacRebur. Which is the last of the companies mentioned in https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... 20#p473048

That's the one. Here's the article I mentioned (theres not much in it and you may need a sub to view)

This has been invented by MacRebur of Lockerbie. It is a brilliant idea: specially coated granules of recycled plastic are mixed in the tar. The result is a road surface that has more “give” to it, so far fewer potholes, and it can flex a little to cope with the extremes of the climate in Zermatt.

So far the results are good, as they have been in many other applications worldwide.


https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/li ... h-plastic/

Maybe the phone helps, well it did for me.

Local council bragging on twitter about how good they were. I replied with a photo of my potholes that were reported over a year previous.

They then tried to minimise the issue so I embarrassed them with copies of info and that there must be something wrong with their system as nothing had been done.

Strangely they did get repaired after our "spat" and was told that the system had been improved. I did repost a pic of the repair with a thank you.

He who shouts loudest........ Comes to mind. Social media is great at some things but can soon be turned back on itself.

I'm ready to take another pic in a fortnight!

There's more SUVs and hybrid/ Electric SUVs on the road. Super heavy. Theyre making potholes worse. But bizarrely pay less road tax. Guess cause politicians drive them.

Tedx wrote:Funnily enough was just reading about a Swiss village that had roads that mixed waste plastic granules in with the tar (an invention from a Scottish company it says).

Testing is still ongoing, but the mix is apparently much more flexible and less likely to cracking etc than normal tarmac.Their temperature ranges are much more extreme than the UK.

Interesting, because quite a lot of roads are contructed with a mixture of tarmac and rubber - also an excellent way of recycling old tyres. In this case, the reason for adding the rubber is to reduce road noise. I am left wondering if this material is also less susceptible to potholes.
See: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest ... 20surfaces.

Adamski wrote:There's more SUVs and hybrid/ Electric SUVs on the road. Super heavy. Theyre making potholes worse. But bizarrely pay less road tax. Guess cause politicians drive them.

that'll change. once there is insufficient emissions based VED the govt will have to move the goalposts.

didds wrote:

Adamski wrote:There's more SUVs and hybrid/ Electric SUVs on the road. Super heavy. Theyre making potholes worse. But bizarrely pay less road tax. Guess cause politicians drive them.

that'll change. once there is insufficient emissions based VED the govt will have to move the goalposts.

It already is changing - my electric car will have a VED of £165 whereas my diesel is £20. I could argue that my electric should pay less as it is less polluting than my diesel - it all depends on your priorities and where you are "coming from", as they say.

And, by the way, VED is nothing to do with "road tax": it hasn't been ring fenced fro roads, or even called road tax since 1937, as I understand it.


Arb.

Utter nightmare for cyclists at the moment, especially round our way, there are some cyclist killers (literally) out there if you are not watching the road surface like a hawk, especially in the dark.

There's a main east-west dual carriageway to the south of Glasgow where a 3-mile stretch would put the lunar surface to shame. Seen a number of reports of wheels actually broken off cars. It's a nightmare on a dry day, I wouldn't go near it in the wet or at night.

--kiloran

Arborbridge wrote:[

And, by the way, VED is nothing to do with "road tax": it hasn't been ring fenced fro roads, or even called road tax since 1937, as I understand it.


Arb.

Indeed. Which is why i didnt say "road tax"

didds wrote:

Arborbridge wrote:[

And, by the way, VED is nothing to do with "road tax": it hasn't been ring fenced fro roads, or even called road tax since 1937, as I understand it.


Arb.

Indeed. Which is why i didnt say "road tax"

Ah well, somebody did. Apologies if it wasn't you, but it was all part of the thread.