Pothole Parade

[David Whipp]

The planing contractors have arrived this afternoon to remove the old surface from Kirkstall Drive.

When they've finished, a county council gang will be removing concrete channels next to the kerbs. I'm told this will allow them to achieve a better job when the new finish is laid.

[Stanley]

Proper job!

[David Whipp]

This is a picture of the drain which was blocked and causing the ponding in Victory Park. Now cleaned out and jetted.

[David Whipp]

The gang working on Kirkstall Drive will be a few days removing the concrete channel next to the kerbs before the road is resurfaced. The crew are trying to work round school start and finish times to reduce chaos for parents and pupils.

[David Whipp]

Is this a pavement?

Or, as Lancashire County Council would have it, not a pavement?

It's in front of Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough on Monkroyd.

Looks like a pavement, walks like a pavement... but, according to LCC, not to be treated as a pavement.

Instead, this, shall I call it a walkway, is to be considered part of the Public Rights of Way network. That's the same as paths in fields. The folk who look after such paths have diddly squat money to spend on repairs; repairing this path properly would take a big chunk of the budget.

It was this sort of nonsense that led to me setting up an Urban Ginnel Programme in Pendle to put some money into dealing with such urban paths. Unfortunately, whilst I've been away from county hall, the money has been pulled for this work.

It's daft that such routes aren't repaired as part of the ordinary street network.

[PanBiker]

I could have sworn that the large pothole repaired on the back of East View Terrace, used to have some form of access cover in it which had become sunken and part of the reason why it degenerated. The repair seems to have totally disregarded this feature and we now have a plain patch, the edges are sealed properly though!

That's probably going to be interesting when someone else tips up to have a look down "their hole".

[David Whipp]

Are you talking about this one Ian?



The central section, which looks like an old 'repair', could be the shape of a circular manhole? It looks like that bitmac has been in a while.

[PanBiker]

That's the one David and it looks like I was mistaken (familiarity breeds contempt), although I would agree that it may have had a cover at one time. Probably confusing it with another smaller sunken one a bit further on. Are these down to the utilities that own them?

[David Whipp]

If there are any problems with manholes on the highway, I report them to the county council. In some cases, they carry out work themselves, othertimes, it's up to the utility to get the work done. Eg recently BT repaired the damaged inspection chamber at the end of Calf Hall Road at the bottom of Monkroyd.

[David Whipp]

Another example of the utilities repairing their manholes: the county council has sent out a notice of a late night road closure on Gisburn Road for the middle of May so that UU can repair one.

The signed diversion looks a bit OTT; sending people round by Gisburn and on the A59 then back via the A56. A long way for someone to get from Gisburn Street to the other side of the mini-roundabout!

[Whyperion]

Maybe the route is designed for heavy lorries, etc, which may not make the local routes

[Whyperion]

I will have to post at some time the crazy london dig up and re-surface places that were not problems in the first place (full resurfacing has been carried out twice in last 5 years, the latest mess has been funded by things like congestion charge, parking fines and LEZ fines , I think the two miles of road pavement and areas being done outside mum's place is about £3.5m.

[Stanley]

London is a different country...
Manholes and service covers interest me. There are many old ones made by Henry Brown and Sons that haven't been lifted for years... I often wonder what's underneath them.



Many were made by Needham's at Stockport, 100 yards from where I grew up.

[David Whipp]

I think Whyperion is right about the diversion route being for HGVs; local folk will find their own way, which will only take a minute or two. The begger is that signing and staffing such a diversion may cost more than the repair itself.

Stanley's interest in manhole lids reminds me of the plans I saw showing the sewers running under Victory Park after I enquired about one of the manholes; amazing the amount of hidden infrastructure underground.

A detailed response in my inbox to several recent reports of road defects includes a number of 'below intervention level' comments, which means they won't be doing anything about them. Re-visiting these on the agenda for the next few days.

[Stanley]

Keep at 'em!

[David Whipp]

This worn away carriageway is on Wellington Street.

The depth of the defect is below LCC's intervention level for carriageways. This is what they say:

Ref 1252337-Wellington Street, Barnoldswick between Park Avenue and Beech Street.- Defects not at intervention levels, no work required.

I don't dispute that it's not a deep pothole, but the street does need some attention; it's broken up in several places along its length. In some places, it has been patched previously.

Elsewhere, a lot of potholes have been fixed with decent repairs, and work continues on Kirkstall Drive with the major resurfacing work.

When they finish on Kirkstall, they'll be doing proper repairs on other roads on the estate before surface dressing. This will involve more road closures during April.

[Wendyf]

I came across this article about drain covers in the Yorkshire Post today. A chap describing himself as a "drain spotter" is trying to get English Heritage to list some of the Victorian drain covers in Sheffield.

[Stanley]

The man is right, they need to be looked after. Part of our history especially when they are by local foundries.

[David Whipp]

Thanks Wendy, that's an interesting story.

I do have some manhole lid pictures, but will restrain myself.

When I worked at the woodyard in Skipton, one of the local companies we supplied made lightweight lids with fibre composite. At the time, these were mainly used for petrol stations, where the lids are lifted on and off frequently. (I recall they exported them all over the world.) The theft of gulley grates has led to some of them being replaced with ones made from composite material. Are the days of cast iron manholes numbered?

[David Whipp]

These whoppers, on Salterforth Lane between the cemetery and Kay Field track, are below intervention level, according to LCC.

[David Whipp]

Another one 'below intervention level' according to LCC; on the Butts.

Just beyond the current pothole and crazed surface is a large repair which dealt with the last outcrop at this location.

Here it is in July 2007.

[David Whipp]

"Below intervention level" (LCC). Head of the cul-de-sac at Pen-y-ghent.

[PanBiker]

Looking at some of these that are below intervention level, makes you wonder if we should have a clandestine pick axe brigade.

I suppose they will get done in quick time when someone on a bike is killed!

[David Whipp]

One of my council colleagues wants to mark the defects up with spray paint of different colours.

I quite like the idea of using the potholes as planters and having a little garden in them...

[David Whipp]

New bitmac going down on Kirkstall Drive this morning.