Road repairs

HAVING read today that the Wraxall B3130 Bristol Road is to be closed for re-servicing, I personally hope that some competent level of knowledgeable supervision will be deployed compared to that I witnessed during 2007 for the repair of Station Road, Backwell.

Through the period of about 10 days of the repair, with nothing better to occupy my time being retired, I watched progress over many days out of interest during this period, I was not over enthusiastic with what I witnessed.

Being something of a practical 'know all' and having build experience, was concerned for the lack of general care as the asphalt machine was deployed.

It was easy to see that new technology was involved in the drains construction, using adjustable corrugated conduit cut to length, using little brick and cement laying in the sumps. I happened to mention to the person who seemed to be guiding progress, why, as you have taken the trouble to complete new drains, no effort was employed by use of a steel cover-plate to prevent macadam falling into each drain as the laying machine passed over? That was obviously a sensible thing to have done.

Answer of course was an expletive negative.

I also thought the surface aggregate was too large with insufficient tar for infill which makes the road noisy, now shows the poor standards of coarse construction with the fissures between being of the same size as aggregate used, the roads hold much water. One has seen in little under three years the rapid deterioration of this road surface compounded by recent winter weather, resulting in many new repairs needed very soon.

It is my view, that the highest standard of road construction ought to be applied, negating the continued need for mending and repairs by our council, monitored and surveyed by competent 'engineers' as the costs are so enormous. I despair at the perfunctory level of commonsense employed for standards applied for this most important operation of our road network maintenance, this degraded work wastes vast financial sums on the contracted out tendered budgets our taxes cannot sustain.

Outside of my home there are new, very deep holes appearing after the bad weather, but this is not just the result of frost. It is because this road has had no re-surfacing attention for 40 years. The subsequent hole bogging repairs there times a year is required because the repair man did not prepare the hold correctly, no tar wash was applied in the hold for the new asphalt filling to bond, before the private hired worker to stamp on it, as the exercise of levelling this work.

According to the repair supervisor in charge of the 300 yard servicing of Rodney Road two years ago, a budget of �6 per hole is the allocation and continually wasted by shoddy application repairs.

If it was possible to do the financial multiplication of the required continued hole repairing to cover the terrible stat of the council's roads, I would estimate there would be insufficient funds for any other service.

EDMUND J GOODLAND

Rodney Road, Backwell