Does every bus stop have a pot hole?

Victor

Waiting around at various bus stops I've noticed a pattern of pot holes, specificly around where the kerbside front wheel would normally stop / the front door. This seems to be more common with asphalt / tarmac road than concrete one (which also have the added advantage of not suffering from leaking oil / diesel).

So does every bus stop have a pot hole?

Chris_533976

Where there are pot holes there are puddles - makes walking past a busstop in the rain a scary manoevre.

Victor

Speaking of which, this is a recently resurfaced section of Leeson Street - sign were put up saying 'temporary surface' but these have disappeared (perhaps they referred to the previous resurfacing?).

There is building work going on at the large puddle - so they put a traffic cone in it, which an Aircoach driver didn't expect and 'crunch'.

murphaph

It's a pretty common problem alright. There must be a lot of downward and indeed lateral force applied to the road surface as a heavy bus brakes on the same spot over and over. Once it is opened up at all it's doomed. Easier braking and smoother acceleration might help matters. Better drainage built into the bus stop raised kerbs would stop frost from shattering more off the surface in winter but that would require ongoing routine drain clearing to be effective :rolleyes:

AlekSmart

AFAIAA There has not been any re-appraisal of the carriageway standards required for Bus Stops within the past 30 years.
This is why situations such as the Leeson St Bridge scenario manifest themselves ad nauseum.
In that time the Gross Weight of the average Double Deck bus has increased from Approx 9 tonnes to 12 tonnes.
Acceleration and decelleration profiles have changed beyond recognition with Auto transmission and inbuilt retarders as well as Air operated independent suspension providing vastly different operating envelope.
Conicidental with this is a massive increase in frequency as evidenced by the Leeson St stop being an inherent part of the N11 QBC.
Anybody looking at the State of the place as displayed in Vic`s Pic`s would be forgiven for thinking it was in Tirana or some such poverty stricken country.
A little further in towards An Lar we have a particularly long lived pothole positioned DIRECTLY at the Suffolk St stop which makes it a racing certainty that a mirror strike will occur as the N/Side front wheel falls into a pothole which DCC have "Wheelbarrowed" so many times it`s beyond comprehension.

Unless and until somebody is Killed and the City Manager,Chief Engineer and a few professional DCC hangers-on are charged with culpable negligence we shall see NO improvement.

The problem is quite real and demands a response other than the usual hand sitting and whistling past the graveyard.
The response should begin with the acceptance that current civil engineering (Wheelbarrow full of Chippings) guidelines are INCAPABLE of catering for the high capacity,high frequency loadings which are now the norm.
Therefore we need NEW guidelines and standards NOW.
This is the sort of stuff City Managers are SUPPOSED to be on top of in addition to ensuring that their Grand Visions are in fact SAFE for their intended purpose (Vis: O Connell St Taxi-Rank).:mad:

PS....While we are on the topic of Leeson St Bridge.....Has anybody got the inside track on WHY the OUTBOUND Bus Shelter has been removed.
Intending passengers now lie around an extended area,sitting on doorsteps,sheltering in doorframes and generally attempting to queue as best they can.

Solution?.....Extend the Bus Bay forward into the (largely unused) delivery bay to allow for multiple bus loading. (Remember This IS a bloody QBC !) and re-erect the damn shelter

Failing any such action then Bus Atha Cliath SHOULD suspend it`s use of the location whilst supplying the Telephone Numbers of the City Manager as a first contact point for commuter complaint.

This is one of the busiest Bus Stops in Dublin during the extended evening peak.
The current Bus Stop layout,thanks to the stupidly positioned bicycle racks,does not allow for safe operation when more than a single bus attempts to address the stop.
For a company which now constantly points to it`s TOTAL committment to safety Bus Atha Cliath is remarkably sanguine about downright negligent situation such as exists on BOTH sides of the Upper Leeson St/Bridge area.

In the absence of any such positive action from Bus Atha Cliath ( I simply do not believe Dublin City Council has ANY Professional grade staff who can spell the Safety word) we must therefore regard the Bus Atha Cliath stance as mere PR puffery ?

Voipjunkie

Road surface standards in this country are terrible

The new surface in the bus lane on the Malahide road at Donnycarney park is nothing short of a disgrace a child with a rolling pin would get a better result.

Capt'n Midnight

would oil/diesel leaks affect the road structure ?

Victor

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

would oil/diesel leaks affect the road structure ?

They do, hence many off carraigeway stops are built in concrete. However, these potholes very much seem to only occur at the front left wheel.

John R

Victor wrote:

They do, hence many off carraigeway stops are built in concrete. However, these potholes very much seem to only occur at the front left wheel.

The front wheels absorb most of the braking force which is when the loading on the road is highest. The reason that the left wheel causes the road to collapse while the road under the right wheel stays together is down to the road and drain design.

There are often drains running at the edge of the roadside that are prone to giveway under constant pressure. Also the method of road construction used means that the tarmac roadway ends at the edge of the pavement so the material ends up getting squeezed in to the soft soil under the pavement.

The Kessel kerbing extends out and is deeper than normal kerbing and is supposed to stop the road from giving way so easily but that only works when it is properly installed with quality road surface construction. All too often a big gap is dug, the kerbing put in and the gap to the road surface filled in with the usual crappy pothole repair filler that lasts for a few weeks/months before breaking up.

Chris_533976

Also most roads are angled downwards slightly on the pavement side to get rid of surface water, so the front left wheel, when braking, takes more of the buses weight than the others.

Slice

If the potholes were caused by braking on approach to a bus stop then would there not be similar potholes on the front right hand side of where the busses stop? Would you not also see similar potholes on approaches to traffic junctions?

I think these potholes are more likely caused by the added weight of passengers embarking and disembarking the bus coupled with the fact that new busses are fitted with better suspension that allows them to lower to the heigth of the kerb...

murphaph

Slice wrote:

If the potholes were caused by braking on approach to a bus stop then would there not be similar potholes on the front right hand side of where the busses stop? Would you not also see similar potholes on approaches to traffic junctions?

Because the road is cambered to drain water off it towards the kerb. The road surface is poorly constructed and the sheer weight of the bus is able to squeeze the asphalt out, creating a pothole. Once a small divot is made it's goodnight Vienna as surface water can no longer run off and will be trapped, freezing on cold nights, expanding and shattering the surface further.

Slice wrote:

I think these potholes are more likely caused by the added weight of passengers embarking and disembarking the bus...

No chance. The weight of people (dis)embarking is negligible compared to the total weight of the laden bus. Sure there's more weight on the back axle as the engine and transmission ar back there. There's very little weight up front in comparison I suspect.