From: Tom Crispin on
On Wednesday I cycled the route of the proposed cycle superhighway 5,
an excellent scheme to redistribute road space by taking a slither
from motorists and giving it to cyclists.

I cycled the route with a senior engineer from Transport for London,
three road engineer consultants and a range of other interested
parties representing cycle groups.

On the A2, at the New Cross Gyratory (which is scheduled for removal
to allow two-way traffic, slow traffic speeds, and make the area safer
for cyclists) there was a sunken drain cover causing a nasty pothole.
While we were discussing how road space could be reallocated to
cyclists within the constraints of two-way traffic flow, a truck
pulled up with two workmen. They jumped out of the cab, each carrying
a tub of "ULTRA permanent pothole repair". They proceeded to fill the
pothole and instruct lorry and bus drivers to driver over it to
compact it. Two minutes later and they were done. Two minutes to fill
a pothole!? Why is there such a pothole problem?

Photo:
http://www.britishschoolofcycling.com/photos/potholefill.jpg

And another pothole to fill, link thanks to Alan Braggins:
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn15018-pick-of-the-pictures/1
From: Pat Ricroft on
On 3 June, 11:45, Tom Crispin <kije.rem...(a)this.bit.freeuk.com.munge>
wrote:
>
> Two minutes to fill
> a pothole!? Why is there such a pothole problem?

I suppose it depends on the nature of the pothole. To me, the ones
that seem to take longest to fix are the ones caused by leaks from a
broken water pipe or sewer, and then the ones that form around the
cover of an inspection chamber. The first type need major excavations
to fix the root cause. The second type need a certain skill in masonry
to rebuild the top of the chamber.

But the method you describe sounds ideal for patching up a third type
of pothole, which I think is usually formed by the action of water and
ice within a joint between two adjacent areas of tarmacadam.

Disclaimer: I Am Not An Engineer.
--
Pat Ricroft, City of Salford, UK
================================
From: Man at B&Q on
On Jun 3, 11:45 am, Tom Crispin
<kije.rem...(a)this.bit.freeuk.com.munge> wrote:
> On Wednesday I cycled the route of the proposed cycle superhighway 5,
> an excellent scheme to redistribute road space by taking a slither
> from motorists and giving it to cyclists.
>
> I cycled the route with a senior engineer from Transport for London,
> three road engineer consultants and a range of other interested
> parties representing cycle groups.
>
> On the A2, at the New Cross Gyratory (which is scheduled for removal
> to allow two-way traffic, slow traffic speeds, and make the area safer
> for cyclists) there was a sunken drain cover causing a nasty pothole.
> While we were discussing how road space could be reallocated to
> cyclists within the constraints of two-way traffic flow, a truck
> pulled up with two workmen. They jumped out of the cab, each carrying
> a tub of "ULTRA permanent pothole repair". They proceeded to fill the
> pothole and instruct lorry and bus drivers to driver over it to
> compact it. Two minutes later and they were done. Two minutes to fill
> a pothole!? Why is there such a pothole problem?
>
> Photo:http://www.britishschoolofcycling.com/photos/potholefill.jpg

Go back in 3 months and see if the repair has held up.

MBQ

From: Tom Anderson on
On Thu, 3 Jun 2010, Tom Crispin wrote:

> a truck pulled up with two workmen. They jumped out of the cab, each
> carrying a tub of "ULTRA permanent pothole repair".

Look again - 'ULTRA CRETE'.

> They proceeded to fill the pothole and instruct lorry and bus drivers to
> driver over it to compact it. Two minutes later and they were done. Two
> minutes to fill a pothole!? Why is there such a pothole problem?

Possibly because it was only invented last winter, and is only just
catching on:

http://www.ultracrete.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=74

?

Looks like good stuff. I could certainly put a tub or two of that away in
Islington!

Retail prices are around 30 quid for a 25 kg tub. I imagine councils or
their contractors buy it in bulk at a significantly cheaper rate.

tom

--
Swords not words!
From: GT on
"Tom Crispin" <kije.remove(a)this.bit.freeuk.com.munge> wrote in message
news:s41f065j8se9mr0dr790fb2u3dq63ge4cj(a)4ax.com...
>
> On the A2, at the New Cross Gyratory (which is scheduled for removal
> to allow two-way traffic, slow traffic speeds, and make the area safer
> for cyclists) there was a sunken drain cover causing a nasty pothole.
> While we were discussing how road space could be reallocated to
> cyclists within the constraints of two-way traffic flow, a truck
> pulled up with two workmen. They jumped out of the cab, each carrying
> a tub of "ULTRA permanent pothole repair". They proceeded to fill the
> pothole and instruct lorry and bus drivers to driver over it to
> compact it. Two minutes later and they were done. Two minutes to fill
> a pothole!?

They tried to fill the potholes near us, but unfortunately, they missed the
holes and the tarmac all landed in a big pile in the middle of the lane! The
council didn't clean up the mess, but instead they just painted some white
triangles on it to make it visible!!

Drivers of smaller, easily stopped vehicles are now forced to slow down to
about half the recommended speed for the road, while the wide, heavy
vehicles with high momentum and poor stopping distances can easily straddle
the bumps and continue at the speed limit. This constant slowing down then
speeding back up to recognised safe speed for the road burns lots of fuel
and is very wasteful and bad for the environment. These big bumps create
congestion and the number of new suspension parts required and new parts for
the undersides of the smaller vehicles has rissen rapidly, so we are having
to manufacture more car parts and throw away new, but broken parts, which is
also bad for the environment.

Someone since has played a rediculous practical joke and made loads of them
over the streets!