State Od The Roads

[Jdfnq]

Don't know about anyone else out there, but it seems to me that the general state of the roads are just getting worse!!

NOw, I am (un)lucky enough to live in the far north, where the state of the roads is basically crap... I mean you drive down the main streets and they have potholes and sh*t everywhere. Oh and IF they actually get around to re-sealing a road, they use that loose stuff (which does absolute wonders for the paintwork of your car) and don't even warn you that it's coming up so that you can take another road to avoid breaking windscreens and stuff....

I do like living up here (and have done for 6 years or so) as there are some absolutly awesme roads to drive on with, with lots of twisty sections and off camber corners, it's a blast....

However, the roads are crap and considering how much fuel is (and part of that tax is supposed to go to fixing the roads not just general other crap) you would think that the state of the roads would be a lot bette....

Anyway, that's my friday bitch out of the way....

[Savage Bliss]

Yeah you see, not disagreeing with you but, the reason we all complain about the roads so much is because we all drive lowered cars with either coilovers or hardened springs therefore copping the brunt of what the roads have to offer.

Anyhoo, I live in Melbourne and have to deal with tram tracks aswell. They're f*&ked!

[Jdfnq]

Oh yeah... been there done that.... Had a 1962 EK ute in melbourne... bloody roads killed it.......

I am not complaining.... just having a winge

[Freddy Kruger]

part of the road at one of the main intersections in town has opened up to the drains underneath...

[RANDY]

Well... I completely agree that our cars will ride firmer than the average sedan. And I always tell myself that to calm my road road-rage down.

I still don't think we (NSW in particular) should be paying top dollar for road fees, just to have council workers to crummy repair jobs. If it was something I personally contracted someone to do, I wouldn't pay them until they got it right. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that, and we're going to pay and get whatever quality of road they feel like giving us.

Replacing a big hole with a big mound is NOT a repair, in my books. Digging up the road to access a pipe/conduit and then throwing loose gravel ontop is also NOT a repair. It's a patch-job.

Roads with too much camber, roads with drains and manholes in them, roads that change surface and join horribly, are all very "dark ages" to me. I guess it's a small step from the old roads that horses and carts travelled on, but I maintain that we are going to look back in 20 years and laugh at the roads we are driving on today.

Oh... I have more to get off my chest! Pedestrian crossings! Why the HELL do they put them IMMEDIATELY before and after roundabouts? There are enough traffic accidents on roundabouts as it is, without throwing in pedestrians into the mix.

Part 2 for pedestrian crossings... Why do they paint them in white glossy paint? You know the stuff.. the really really slippery stuff that you can spin your wheels on by accident? Yeah.. if you had to stop suddenly for some kid riding his bike at speed through the crossing in the wet, you recken cars would stop quicker on that shiny white stuff?

Power poles apparently lead to more deaths in car accidents than anything else... the parts of Queensland that i've seen have all the power lines running under the ground (under the footpath, not the road). I'm sure this would lead to less deaths if you go by the statistics? Couldn't Sydney Electricity just order the poles in a thinner diameter? Something that is designed to break if hit with that sort of force?

I went through one once, and it was rotten at the base... I think that's what saved me actually.

I think I swear the most when i'm driving... and it's not road-rage at other motorists, it's everytime I hit a bump or pothole.

Edited September 16, 2006 by RANDY

[Tangles]

meh - rode fast bikes fast for years thru the adelaide hills and ranges etc, fact is the roads are 'generally' shit, both metro and country - for any commuter vehicle. some roads tho are fricken fantastic and are therefore the benchmark, but they are few and far between.

[AdamsR33]

I'm not here defending anything the RTA or whoever looks after your roads in your area, but i do know some things about whats going on. I work as a contractor to RTA and various other mobs that look after our roads. I mainly do brigde expansion joints, but just to enlighten you all...

the RTA just got a 2 billion dollar increase to go towards fixing our roads, thats 2 billion on top of what they normally get, and that just in NSW. Generally the main roads are worked on at night, so not to interupt traffic too much, laying new asphalt isn't just a matter of pouring it on and levelling it out, you all complain about how bad the roads are now but alot of you hate it when we try and do our job yet make you all of 5mins late becuase you gotta slow down, some don't even slow down. To do a good job, thats what everyone wants, it takes alot longer to do then a few hours at night. When a pot hole is patched up, that is exactly what it is, a patch, a temp measure until the RTA (or whoever) can justify ripping up the whole road and resealing it. Its not cheap, i was at one job where a machine that rips up the old asphalt (called a profiler) cost $800 an hr, working or not! We usually make a pothole patch higher because the stuff we put in gets more compacted everytime a car\truck goes over it, if we made it the same height as the road in a few days it would be lower then the road itself.

I am myself disgusted in our roads but we can't fix them over night.

My personal bitch is when we are just doing our job and you get f**kwits c**ts driving past throwing eggs, golfballs, nuts and bolts, waterbombs and even spitting at us, and also calling us bludgers and shit, I am not a council worker nor do i work for the RTA I work for a living and i invite anyone to come work for us for a week and then still call me a bludger. We are only out there to do our job, and for f**ksake it ain't because we like being out there at night stopping you all just to make you late.

Anyway sorry for the bitch. I'm calm now.

[RANDY]

That's terrible!

They seriously throw stuff at you?

Well, I know what you're saying about the night-works, and I have no problems with them but I guess some people have no brains and a short fuse. There are 3 stretches of new road around here (about 100m long) on Warringah Road that are REALLY nice to drive on. I can't even hear my tyres when i'm on the new stuff! =-D

As for the patchjobs on the potholes... I really strongly beleive that they could hire one of those push-rollers to flatten the lump from Kennards Hire for $20 and make the lump rather flat and unnoticeable. Most of the time that road doesn't need to be ripped up. It only needs replacing after some council guys dig a whopping huge hole in it then turn it into a minefield of lumps! =-[

But don't get me wrong mate, I appreciate contractors and council workers that do the hard work and make things better... I don't want to make generalisations, i'm just saying that SOME of those guys seem like they really don't give a stuff.

Heh... interesting idea. I might take some video with my camera strapped to the dashboard or something and send it in to the RTA, then claim new suspension back on tax.

[AzzurrA]

i can see both sides of the fence here....

i have had my suspension/steering broken by unmaintained roads around here (big-ass pothole... and i'm just on the northside of brisbane... it happened on a major highway)

council didn't want to know about it when i approached them about it, basically said that it's not their job to maintain the roads etc, started pulling legal precedents out of their arse etc...

funny thing is, this 'national highway' is getting to the point that it is so bad that there is none of the original highway left... it is just the patches that are left.... it seriously wrecks the shit out of the car every time you drive on it! not only modified cars either... have been in a tow-truck that it nearly sent spearing off the road, and also my mums stock N15 pulsar feels terrible to drive on that road...

[thorpe84]

as with anything, when it gets old it f**ks up

[Jdfnq]

I can't believe people actually throw sh8t at you wehn you are working... that is just f**ked..... some people have no decency... you should follow THEM to work one day and throw stuff at em while they work and see how they like it....

[RBwhatever]

Don't know about anyone else out there, but it seems to me that the general state of the roads are just getting worse!!

NOw, I am (un)lucky enough to live in the far north, where the state of the roads is basically crap... I mean you drive down the main streets and they have potholes and sh*t everywhere. Oh and IF they actually get around to re-sealing a road, they use that loose stuff (which does absolute wonders for the paintwork of your car) and don't even warn you that it's coming up so that you can take another road to avoid breaking windscreens and stuff....

I do like living up here (and have done for 6 years or so) as there are some absolutly awesme roads to drive on with, with lots of twisty sections and off camber corners, it's a blast....

However, the roads are crap and considering how much fuel is (and part of that tax is supposed to go to fixing the roads not just general other crap) you would think that the state of the roads would be a lot bette....

Anyway, that's my friday bitch out of the way....

Hahahahahah yeah I know what you mean

The only main streets/roads that I know of that are pratically made from pot hole patches are on the tablelands in a little town called atherton.

Yeah the roads are pretty rubbish. I find most of the highways up here to be pretty good except for part of the stretch between yungaburra and the gillies and some parts on the way to townsville and a couple of stretches between mareeba to atherton. I find find most of our bad and bumpy roads are in town itself.

I agree with you on the twisties to. I tend to go gilles more than kuranda, although kuranda is a faster, smoother and more flowing range.... when its not chockers with traffic, which is why I like the gillies.... less traffic, just about no trucks on there, more corners...

[Jdfnq]

Hahahahahah yeah I know what you mean

The only main streets/roads that I know of that are pratically made from pot hole patches are on the tablelands in a little town called atherton.

Yeah the roads are pretty rubbish. I find most of the highways up here to be pretty good except for part of the stretch between yungaburra and the gillies and some parts on the way to townsville and a couple of stretches between mareeba to atherton. I find find most of our bad and bumpy roads are in town itself.

I agree with you on the twisties to. I tend to go gilles more than kuranda, although kuranda is a faster, smoother and more flowing range.... when its not chockers with traffic, which is why I like the gillies.... less traffic, just about no trucks on there, more corners...

Oh yeah The Gillies is a hoot..... I also like the back way from Mossman to Mareeba... that is a fun road with little traffic and a few really cool and tricky sections...... You are right about the highways, they are pretty good, until it rains and then they get all churned up..... and then we wait another year for them to be fixed.... I was up on the tableands last week for a drive and you are right about the roads in town.... Horrible........

[Del Sol]

not only modified cars either... have been in a tow-truck that it nearly sent spearing off the road, and also my mums stock N15 pulsar feels terrible to drive on that road...

Hell yeah, I thought tow trucks would have a nice smooth ride like a bus, but they don't. They ride hard like a car on Jap spec coilovers

As for the dumb bogans throwing stuff at road workers... I feel more inclined to give them some beers for their hard work!

[Lukas]

Yeah, the roads here are really f u c k e d up! But you have to expect it in a place that rains 6 months of the year. Driveways do my head in! They are like gutters, so they can handle the wet season downpours. Even with stock suspension it takes me 5 minutes to get up my driveway!

[Jdfnq]

Yeah, the roads here are really f u c k e d up! But you have to expect it in a place that rains 6 months of the year. Driveways do my head in! They are like gutters, so they can handle the wet season downpours. Even with stock suspension it takes me 5 minutes to get up my driveway!

LOL

yeah driveways suck!!!!

some of them I can't even get up they are so high.......

[Revhead]

I live in Toowong (not for from the Brisbane CBD), the roads around here are complete and utter shite, probably worse than the roads in Ipswich where I used to live. Obviously the roads are worse in the 33 (despite its suspension being not exactly drifter material), but even in my Cressida with stock luxo-barge suspension the bumps, ruts, corrugations and exposed/recessed covers for manholes or utilities are pretty bad.

You can tell the locals because they know when to change lanes to avoid the dodgy bits of road

Oh and oh driveways... ours is crap too! We're on the downhill side of the road, so the road hits our driveway at a fair angle, and they decided to make our driveway also head DOWN, in the opposite direction, to meet the road. I can understand that there needs to be some drainage, but a bit of cement with a pipe through it would have been nice, so I don't have to reverse out of my own driveway at a 60° angle in order to avoid ripping off the front bar