Another Council Highways Cock-Up -

Ousetunes · 13-07-2006, 10:51

'Where once there was harmony, let us bring discord'. That is obviously the slogan from our council's highways department who once again bend over backwards to make our journeys in and around Sheffield a nightmare.

Not only that, but it looks as if they've stumbled across a warehouse packed-solid with tins of yellow paint which they've decided they should embellish our streets with (or maybe it'll cover up some of the pot-holes?).

Travelling to work, whether by car or on cycle, from Lodge Moor to Crookesmoor my journey is made interesting (and challenging) by the council's latest implementations to our highways. Witness these, folks:

1, Barncliffe Road Bus Terminus. In the past it was a doddle, a bus waits in its own layby, traffic can pass with ease and traffic leaving Winchester Road could do so safely being able to negotiate the junction with its good lay-out giving the motorist good vision.

Now, the laybe is twice its original length but is no longer an actual bus stop - that has been placed right on the edge of the Barncliffe Rd/Winchester Rd junction. And the man with the yellow paint has had a party. The layby took over two months to finish, maybe longer.

There will be an accident soon as a vehicle leaves Winchester Road turning right onto Barncliffe Road. A bus waiting at the stop makes pulling out of Winchester Road a dangerous affair.

2, Nethergreen. This is laughable and it's bang outside a school. Pinch points (probably called 'pedestrian crossing points') jute out in pier like fashion just above Carr Bank Lane. This restricts access on a bus route and near to Tescos which very often receives deliveries of goods and petrol for Esso, both utilising huge lorries. (A car has already been spotted parked alongside one of these pinch points reducing Fulwood Road into a single carriageway.)

However, the real art-piece lies at the juxtaposed junctions of Fulwood Road, Tom Lane and Nethergreen Road. It's worked effortlessly for the past couple of hundred years. The council have seen that the pedestrian crossing be built-out onto the carriageway and no doubt when the man comes with his yellow paint he'll bring some pink stuff as well to lay across the road.

Lord knows what's happening at the bottom of Tom Lane - it would appear a new traffic island is going to sit halfway across Fulwood Road. Traffic waiting to turn into Nethergreen Road, say three vehicles will now cause a backlog up Fulwood Road as traffic will be unable to pass by on the nearside. The council has decided that people sat in their vehicles - and this includes folk on buses - is a fair way of treating the taxpayer/motorist. Maybe it's a 'green' policy? (Okay, I know, it's a concerted effort to bully the motorist out of his car.)

All this unnecessary expense whilst our road surfaces resemble those in war-torn Bosnia. Now I've started cycling to work I'm beginning to realise just how poor and dangerous the road surfaces are in Sheffield.

The late Mrs Windle (lollypop lady from Nethergreen) would turn in her grave. Maybe some motorist will be doing that sooner than they think as they negotiate their way through this utter madness.

TESTPASS · 13-07-2006, 17:02

Ill tell you what they are upto...

They are funneling the traffic down set routs so they can bring in the congestion charge for using these roads to get in and out the city as there wont be any alternative when they have done.

Beleve me m8, they will have this one on the back burner and wont say nothing till everything is set to go and then they will bring in some indipendant organisation

to come up with the WE NEED TO CHARGE answer and then low and behold another tax for them to blow the monies on everything but the pot holed roads of sheffield which we have all learned to enjoy.

sccsux · 13-07-2006, 17:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by TESTPASS

blow the monies on everything but the pot holed roads of sheffield which we have all learned to enjoy.

According to the Star SCC are trying to get 50% of the £600,000,000 on offer from the government to fix our gloriuos pot holes.

2wentypence · 13-07-2006, 17:32

Sandygate Road / Sandygate Park has been turned yellow too. It looks a right mess and totally detracts from the area.. its almost funny. For people who cant see the double yellow lines down the side of the road, there is an additional yellow strip on every kerb stone.
I cant get my head around how the COuncil prioritise their spending on road matters. Crazy.

jubby · 13-07-2006, 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2wentypence

...For people who cant see the double yellow lines down the side of the road, there is an additional yellow strip on every kerb stone...Crazy.

Read your highway code - the line on the kerb is meant to be there.

Here's a quote for you it can be seen with helpful pictures at http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/signs09.htm scroll about 2/3 down for the bit in question

On the kerb or at the edge of the carriageway

Loading restrictions on roads other than Red Routes

Yellow marks on the kerb or at the edge of the carriageway indicate that loading or unloading is prohibited at the times shown on the nearby black and white plates. You may stop while passengers board or alight. If no days are indicated on the signs the restrictions are in force every day including Sundays and Bank Holidays.

ALWAYS CHECK THE TIMES SHOWN ON THE PLATES.

Lengths of road reserved for vehicles loading and unloading are indicated by a white 'bay' marking with the words 'Loading Only' and a sign with the white on blue 'trolley' symbol. This sign also shows whether loading and unloading is restricted to goods vehicles and the times at which the bay can be used. If no times or days are shown it may be used at any time. Vehicles may not park here if they are not loading or unloading.

Blade1983 · 14-07-2006, 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ousetunes

'Where once there was harmony, let us bring discord'. That is obviously the slogan from our council's highways department who once again bend over backwards to make our journeys in and around Sheffield a nightmare.

Not only that, but it looks as if they've stumbled across a warehouse packed-solid with tins of yellow paint which they've decided they should embellish our streets with (or maybe it'll cover up some of the pot-holes?).

Travelling to work, whether by car or on cycle, from Lodge Moor to Crookesmoor my journey is made interesting (and challenging) by the council's latest implementations to our highways. Witness these, folks:

1, Barncliffe Road Bus Terminus. In the past it was a doddle, a bus waits in its own layby, traffic can pass with ease and traffic leaving Winchester Road could do so safely being able to negotiate the junction with its good lay-out giving the motorist good vision.

Now, the laybe is twice its original length but is no longer an actual bus stop - that has been placed right on the edge of the Barncliffe Rd/Winchester Rd junction. And the man with the yellow paint has had a party. The layby took over two months to finish, maybe longer.

There will be an accident soon as a vehicle leaves Winchester Road turning right onto Barncliffe Road. A bus waiting at the stop makes pulling out of Winchester Road a dangerous affair.

2, Nethergreen. This is laughable and it's bang outside a school. Pinch points (probably called 'pedestrian crossing points') jute out in pier like fashion just above Carr Bank Lane. This restricts access on a bus route and near to Tescos which very often receives deliveries of goods and petrol for Esso, both utilising huge lorries. (A car has already been spotted parked alongside one of these pinch points reducing Fulwood Road into a single carriageway.)

However, the real art-piece lies at the juxtaposed junctions of Fulwood Road, Tom Lane and Nethergreen Road. It's worked effortlessly for the past couple of hundred years. The council have seen that the pedestrian crossing be built-out onto the carriageway and no doubt when the man comes with his yellow paint he'll bring some pink stuff as well to lay across the road.

Lord knows what's happening at the bottom of Tom Lane - it would appear a new traffic island is going to sit halfway across Fulwood Road. Traffic waiting to turn into Nethergreen Road, say three vehicles will now cause a backlog up Fulwood Road as traffic will be unable to pass by on the nearside. The council has decided that people sat in their vehicles - and this includes folk on buses - is a fair way of treating the taxpayer/motorist. Maybe it's a 'green' policy? (Okay, I know, it's a concerted effort to bully the motorist out of his car.)

All this unnecessary expense whilst our road surfaces resemble those in war-torn Bosnia. Now I've started cycling to work I'm beginning to realise just how poor and dangerous the road surfaces are in Sheffield.

The late Mrs Windle (lollypop lady from Nethergreen) would turn in her grave. Maybe some motorist will be doing that sooner than they think as they negotiate their way through this utter madness.

Send this to "Street Farce" and copy in the Sheffield Star. I've done this before and someone does get back to you, and they appear to take your complaints serious.

Also, if they have it in righting that it is dangerous, they will have to take it seriously, because if they ignore it, and an accident does happen, they will be up the creak!

feargal · 14-07-2006, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by sccsux

According to the Star SCC are trying to get 50% of the £600,000,000 on offer from the government to fix our gloriuos pot holes.

Hmmm... £300,000,000 is still not going to be enough though!

While I'm ranting, does anybody know why they send a team to 'recce', then another team to paint lines round the potholes before the tarmac man comes round? This might sound like a crazy plan, but wouldn't it be quicker and more cost-effective to just send a bloke with a bucket of tarmac round to fill them in as he goes?

the_rudeboy · 14-07-2006, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by feargal

Hmmm... £300,000,000 is still not going to be enough though!

While I'm ranting, does anybody know why they send a team to 'recce', then another team to paint lines round the potholes before the tarmac man comes round? This might sound like a crazy plan, but wouldn't it be quicker and more cost-effective to just send a bloke with a bucket of tarmac round to fill them in as he goes?

Its not quite that simple. If you were having a new fitted kitchen would you be happy if the workmen just turned up with some units and started banging them in as they saw fit? I know thats an extreme example but there is some thought goes into highway maintenance. There may be a number of potholes quite close to eachother and someone has to make the decision as to how they're repaired.....individually or as a group with a larger patch.

TESTPASS · 14-07-2006, 14:35

we know how they get repaired - inadaquatly. but what he is saying is your paying 2 blokes wages so why cant the man with the bucket full of tarmac make the dissision as to where he is going to throw it ?

The reason this isnt the case is because the yellow paint signifies that there is a problem and then the council has so long by law or something to correct it ( 18 month or 2 year or something ) then because they have identified it its down as being repaired in due process whis helps them get out of claims made against them and stuff.

another way to drag your heals if you ask me untill you can make a case for government money

and where has my last post gone from here ? it wasnt offensive or anything ??

feargal · 14-07-2006, 16:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by TESTPASS

but what he is saying is your paying 2 blokes wages so why cant the man with the bucket full of tarmac make the dissision as to where he is going to throw it ?

It was 3 wages actually - Clipboard man, yellow paint man, and filler-in fella. I know it's all to do with the Street Works Act (or whatever it's called), but I know what you mean. I still think it'd be more cost-effective to give clipboard man a bucket of tarmac and a can of paint, so he could cut out at least one of the other steps in this tedious and expensive process.

By the way, I'm a lass... can't you tell with this rational thinking?

Planner1 · 16-07-2006, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2wentypence

Sandygate Road / Sandygate Park has been turned yellow too. It looks a right mess and totally detracts from the area.. its almost funny. For people who cant see the double yellow lines down the side of the road, there is an additional yellow strip on every kerb stone.
I cant get my head around how the COuncil prioritise their spending on road matters. Crazy.

The double yellow lines at Sandygate Park are there because local people asked the Council to put them there. Entering Sandygate Park from Sandygate Road was dangerous as you couldn't see anything for the parked cars (people who work at the hospital).

Camrat78 · 16-07-2006, 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by TESTPASS

we know how they get repaired - inadaquatly. but what he is saying is your paying 2 blokes wages so why cant the man with the bucket full of tarmac make the dissision as to where he is going to throw it ?

The problem with that is thaqt differant types of asphalt are used for differant applications and traffiking types. In general, the people who lay the material dont know a thing about the materials they are laying.

Also, asphalt of the type for roads will be unusable after a couple of hours from the time it is mixed.

Haydn1971 · 16-07-2006, 23:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by feargal

Hmmm... £300,000,000 is still not going to be enough though!

No, £300M from the government, plus the £300M from the PFI company that could win the bid, wouldn't be enough to fix the problem... However, the money isn't going to come from anywhere else and so we may as well have a pop at it....

Birmingham is going through a similar bid right now for £2.2Bn, which sounds a little more realistic... It's not just a problem in Sheffield, but a problem across the nation, which is down to several factors, beyond the control of any local council, these being, age of the existing roads, the quality of the original construction, lack of any funding for decades into road refurbishment, the freefall of car ownership, that allows each and every one of us the freedom to choose to sit alone in a car each day on the way to work and lastly and probably the biggest culprit is the raise in the weight of HGV's, which each contribute more to road damage than a 100 cars.

Even if money was available to repace each and every road in the country, we would be back to square one within a decade or so... we need to rethink how we use cars, how we carry goods on the roads... It's not going to get any better until more of us start to think about what we are doing to the roads.... everything wears out in time, you cannot build roads that are indestructable...

One last point to consider is the amount of upheaval that spending £600M in road renewal over say, 5 years will bring... imagine building 5 Supertram Systems at once and you might get a feel for the amount of work involved...

Strix · 16-07-2006, 23:59

I beg to differ.

I regularly drive in Sheffield, Liverpool, Wallasey, Cambridge, Peterborough, Nottingham, Leeds and various parts of Scotland.

In my own personal experience, you can tell when you're 'home' with your eyes shut

*awaits stupid comments about driving with eyes shut

*

TESTPASS · 17-07-2006, 00:27

Yes I agree with the last post, I made regular trips to the east coast via differnt routs and as soon as you get back into sheffield district you have to put extra grasp on the steering wheel, you wake all the sleeping passengers and give the car a right what for aswell.

I am sorry but if birmingham which is the second biggest city in the Uk need less money than us then you goto ask why and who wasnt doing there jobs right.
Are the brummies driving lighter cars or less cars then us ? do we use substandard tarmac ? or has sheffield just underinvested so that the don vally can look r8 for 1 year and a few photo shots for the councilors to be stuck up on the town hall walls.

and I dont think they would take on (LMAO) a road repairer that doesnt even know his matterials ,road surface or how long his tarmac takes to spoil

Camrat78 · 17-07-2006, 06:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by TESTPASS

and I dont think they would take on (LMAO) a road repairer that doesnt even know his matterials ,road surface or how long his tarmac takes to spoil

Mate, sorry to disagree, but I deal with these people everyday. The majority of people who lay it, and I'm not just talking council but utilities as well, dont know very much at all about asphalt. It isn't just black sticky stuff that you put down and leave it. There are differant types of bitumens, differant aggregate types, differant sizes all having effects on there applications. From my experience the lads who lay it want to put the easiest stuff down and go home, unfortunatley the easiest stuff to lay is the easiest to come up. Thats why you cant have the same people decided what material to lay and then laying it.

TESTPASS · 17-07-2006, 13:08

Ok cheaper alternative - education, if these people work for the council then educate them in what they are doing. invest in them and stop paying the other two men that precede him.

And before its put that it would be to technical for them to grasp then please dont insult the inteligence of the working class, they mighnt suprise you.

anyother industry would have them on a course before you could say yellow spray.

Strix · 17-07-2006, 13:30

so we're just going to ignore the minor technicality of tarmac going off far quicker than it can be shovelled into holes whilst wandering about the place randomly then?

and how far does anybody think a bucket of tar is going to go?

Camrat78 · 17-07-2006, 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by TESTPASS

Ok cheaper alternative - education, if these people work for the council then educate them in what they are doing. invest in them and stop paying the other two men that precede him.

And before its put that it would be to technical for them to grasp then please dont insult the inteligence of the working class, they mighnt suprise you.

anyother industry would have them on a course before you could say yellow spray.

I'm working class so I'm not insulting anyone, but the majority of the people who do these jobs are on a job and knock basis. They start as early as they can, get the job done and go home. Its human nature to take a short cut if there is one.

Cyclone · 17-07-2006, 14:47

Surely it's cheaper in the long run to have a trained person who does the assessment and an untrained one who does the laying.

Otherwise you're paying for a trained persons time to lay tarmac, when it could be done by someone untrained and therefore cheaper.

It's the same reason an architect doesn't build his own buildings.