A12 new road already has potholes and has repairs/Marks Tey-Stanway

[Dutch 68]

And as a direct comparison, I have always found Belgian roads to be awful.

They really are, but then the Belgiums have one of the best healthcare and education provisions in the world

 

[Kups]

Maybe if they spent more on actually repairing the potholes, rather than wasting money on developing new "super machines" there wouldn't be such a problem.

They didn't develop it they bought it from Skanska. It has been in use by many highway authorities for at least the last five years.
This is a video from Somerset County Council in 2018.

 

[meanders]

I use the A12 frequently to visit my aging dad. It simply does my head in. Why don’t you use another route I hear you ask ? I do, and they are even worse.
Phil inthepotholes

What are the other route options? The main alternative is A14 which has equally major roadworks half way across Suffolk as well as the emergency drainage works at Newmarket? Or a painfully slow winding country road journeys south via Sudbury, Halstead to Braintree, or via Haverhill to pick up the M11? I guess going North on the A140 is an option (50mph limit and often closed with accidents) into Norfolk, then Diss to Thetford and then the A11. Let's face it, East Anglia, and Suffolk in particular have always been the poor relations as far as roads have been concerned. Then Highways really stuff us with major works on both main access roads simultaneously.

Then it's a toss up with the other roads which are closed today with roadworks. And please don't say Onenetwork shows all the closures, it doesn't. One local road was closed 3 days last week with a sign displayed saying it was closed for a maximum of 15 minutes! They just forgot to say which 15 minutes!

 

[PeterCarole29]

What are the other route options? The main alternative is A14 which has equally major roadworks half way across Suffolk as well as the emergency drainage works at Newmarket? Or a painfully slow winding country road journeys south via Sudbury, Halstead to Braintree, or via Haverhill to pick up the M11? I guess going North on the A140 is an option (50mph limit and often closed with accidents) into Norfolk, then Diss to Thetford and then the A11. Let's face it, East Anglia, and Suffolk in particular have always been the poor relations as far as roads have been concerned. Then Highways really stuff us with major works on both main access roads simultaneously.

Then it's a toss up with the other roads which are closed today with roadworks. And please don't say Onenetwork shows all the closures, it doesn't. One local road was closed 3 days last week with a sign displayed saying it was closed for a maximum of 15 minutes! They just forgot to say which 15 minutes!

We have several times had a Road closed sign at North station and further up at Braiswick no info the road works were 6 miles up the road past several villages

 

[meanders]

It's so frustrating...

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[gus-lopez]

ie HGV weight and

They've been 44tonnes for years. They have not been made heavier. The roads and repairs are white.

 

[Guigsy]

They never ever learn..M1 originally two lanes on first sections.. M5 two lanes..M1 M6 A14 intersection set of lights and a roundabout..Rebuilt years later..M11 terminating at Cambridge..should have gone up to Humber Bridge and on to Thirsk..Scrooge must rule Dept of Transport. BUSBY

What people need to learn is induced demand. No matter how much road space you create, it'll eventually get filled. More road just creates more traffic. You can't beat congestion with widening.

When the M25 was designed, they created enough capacity for 40 years of growth. It took less than 5 years to reach that level. And the roads around it also became busier. It now carries three times what they originally envisaged.

Don't build more roads. Maintain what we've got.

 

[meanders]

When the M25 was designed, they created enough capacity for 40 years

That claim was an absolute nonsense before they cut the first turf. Many of the calculations were based on those for Ringway 3 and the possible Ringway 4 many decades before. I think they planned it for traffic from 1910 to 1950. That was the 40 years.

When the short stretch was opened from the M11 to South Mimms, Hilary was counting it for the Council and it was already between three and four times the planned capacity and basically went nowhere.

All the nearby roads were already stuffed meaning a lot of people used the motorway for just one or two junctions to avoid the North Circular or the Harlow, Hertford, Hatfield run. What a surprise that was to no-one except those paid to foreseeable these things.

 

[Gaston aires]

What are the other route options? The main alternative is A14 which has equally major roadworks half way across Suffolk as well as the emergency drainage works at Newmarket? Or a painfully slow winding country road journeys south via Sudbury, Halstead to Braintree, or via Haverhill to pick up the M11? I guess going North on the A140 is an option (50mph limit and often closed with accidents) into Norfolk, then Diss to Thetford and then the A11. Let's face it, East Anglia, and Suffolk in particular have always been the poor relations as far as roads have been concerned. Then Highways really stuff us with major works on both main access roads simultaneously.

Then it's a toss up with the other roads which are closed today with roadworks. And please don't say Onenetwork shows all the closures, it doesn't. One local road was closed 3 days last week with a sign displayed saying it was closed for a maximum of 15 minutes! They just forgot to say which 15 minutes!

The options are just as you say. Sudbury, Halsted, Braintree and Witham. Or via Haverhill and Earls Colne. Slower than a traffic jam even though quicker as the crow flies, not.
It took me 3 hours Maldon to Bury mid afternoon A12 A14 on Weds.

 

[pappajohn]

We, along with our one neighbour, live along a single track lane which goes nowhere but to us.
Around 10 years ago it was so broken even taxis refused to come for us.
It was reported a few times but nothing happened until one day a tarmac gang arrived. (I think Tony next door is a Mason!)
Nice shiny new surface around an inch thick!
As said, the road goes nowhere and is a bridal path (with vehicle access) so it's not like it carries a lot of traffic.
Over the last year it's developed three potholes (that's how I know the new tarmac is an inch thick)
As soon as I saw the first one I avoided it and later the other two.
Tony is the type to not think of the damage (or give a shit) so all damage is down to just two cars, a post office van, an Amazon van and a dustcart every week

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[pappajohn]

They didn't develop it they bought it from Skanska. It has been in use by many highway authorities for at least the last five years.
This is a video from Somerset County Council in 2018.

I notice it doesn't compact the new surface so it looks like an expensive tar then gravel layer.

 

[Guigsy]

That claim was an absolute nonsense before they cut the first turf. Many of the calculations were based on those for Ringway 3 and the possible Ringway 4 many decades before. I think they planned it for traffic from 1910 to 1950. That was the 40 years.

They estimated the number of trips that would transfer to the new road due to the journey time savings. And then added on the expected national traffic growth. What their models didn't take into account was all the new trips people would make. Taking that job a bit further away. Driving to see Aunty Mavis more often. Going to that shopping centre in the next town for a change. Induced demand still isn't properly modelled. If you did take induced demand into account, you'd never build another road because it's pretty much pointless, in a few years time, each journey (on average) will take just as long as it did before.

So accept that congestion is inevitable. Or you can do the radical thing and do what a few places have done and reduce the road capacity. Because induced demand works both ways. Take away capacity and it doesn't take long before the trips fall away and congestion ends up the same as before. But you've got less pollution, noise and accidents.

 

[bigwood]

We have a maze of roadworks in this area. No doubt needed repairs but the A180 is falling apart and has been horrible to drive on due to the noise from the start.
At the end of our street the electric people had three holes for nearly a month. One gang dug the holes. Next gang did the repairs . Another gang filled in the holes and finally a couple of guys put the pavement back down. It now looks like crazy paving and it’s a trip hazard.

 

[olley]

They are replacing the concrete road on the A14 with tarmac, that concrete was laid down in the early 70's so around 50 years old, I bet there will pot holes in the tarmac in 5 years.

 

[busby]

What people need to learn is induced demand. No matter how much road space you create, it'll eventually get filled. More road just creates more traffic. You can't beat congestion with widening.

When the M25 was designed, they created enough capacity for 40 years of growth. It took less than 5 years to reach that level. And the roads around it also became busier. It now carries three times what they originally envisaged.

Don't build more roads. Maintain what we've got.

Well they managed it in Spain passing Barcelona..Back in 2003 2004 it was gridlock..By widening and building other roads it flows beautifully.I heard John Prescott quote that statement about building roads back in the days of New Labour..excuse not to spend money..Spain proves that theory wrong.BUSBY.

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[MichaelT]

They are replacing the concrete road on the A14 with tarmac, that concrete was laid down in the early 70's so around 50 years old, I bet there will pot holes in the tarmac in 5 years.

Let's hope not but they will be easier to repair and the road surface will be miles smoother.

 

[Kups]

I notice it doesn't compact the new surface so it looks like an expensive tar then gravel layer.

Well spotted!
What the video doesn't show is the gang of six blokes filling the pothole first

 

[Kups]

They are replacing the concrete road on the A14 with tarmac, that concrete was laid down in the early 70's so around 50 years old, I bet there will pot holes in the tarmac in 5 years.

There were potholes in the east bound new running surface causing its closure in January for repairs.