Contractors digging up roads

C4Kid · 04-10-2021 12:58am #1

Basically, do contractors have any accountbility regarding the State they leave the roads in?

Plenty of fresh trenches left along our already crumbling roads in Cork after the summer which would rival those seen in wartimes!

Seems that any Tom, Dick & Harry can dig up a road and throw it back any auld way and that is acceptable.

Atlantic Dawn · 04-10-2021 3:42am

I can never understand how they are allowed systematically fook up a good stretch of road. Is the solution for a member of the public to put in a complaint to the local council saying the job is a botch so future claims can be taken or what. From a liability point of view someone digging up council property is opening up the council to claims, at a basic level they should insist on a before and after pic.

johnnyrotten · 04-10-2021 6:04am

The Oscar traynor road in Dublin was resurfaced in June and was butchered in August to lay a new sewer pipe. They left the place in bits, bafflingly.

Dr_Colossus · 04-10-2021 9:32am

It's everywhere and probably the biggest contributor to the state of our roads especially in villages, towns and cities around the country damaging tyres and suspensions for which the Irish motorist is heavily taxed and penalised.

Case in point, Georges Quay in Dublin, heading west just before O'Connell Bridge at the junction towards D'Olier Street. One of the busiest sections of road with a constant stream of traffic but last year they dug up a section and you'd be hard pushed to leave the replacement in a worse condition. Variations in height of about 15 cm over only a few meters.

North and South Circular Roads in Dublin and the likes of Cabra Road, Old Cabra Road and Navan Roads are terrible to drive on and damaging to your car with the endless routing and inept patch works applied.

Just no accountability and responsibility for one's own actions in Ireland.

BronsonTB · 04-10-2021 12:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058211564/contractors-digging-up-roads

Don't think there is any accountibility or if there is, there is no checking up on it. Very rare to see a contractor leave a road in the same or better condition when doing pipes/cabling etc, anywhere in Ireland.

And it's often dug up shortly after having been re-surfaced. Really poor road management here.

PsychoPete · 04-10-2021 4:15pm

Irish water tore up all the roads near my house, in fairness they put a really nice surface back down and it was lovely to drive on. Of course the council showed up a few months later and resurfaced the roads and make them a lot worse

Tazzimus · 04-10-2021 4:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973313#Comment_117973313

The bit of the North Circular going by the Mater/Mountjoy is exceptionally shite to drive down in anything with even slightly stiff suspension.

I have to drive most of that in second gear in the Fiesta.

Bit between Summerhill and the Five Lamps is the same. I've seen backroads in the arsehole of nowhere in better condition.

spakman · 04-10-2021 4:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975384#Comment_117975384

A lot of people might consider summerhill to the 5 lamps to be the arsehole of Dublin

Tazzimus · 04-10-2021 4:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975419#Comment_117975419

As bad as it is, there's a fair few places that are worse, some of which aren't too far away either.

circadian · 04-10-2021 4:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973010#Comment_117973010

They absolutely destroyed that stretch.

This is something that's been on my mind the last while. We pay through the nose on road tax then the roads get treated like absolute shite, contractors/construction work means there's either heavy machinery and trucks on a stretch that could be busy for 18+ months destroying the road and they often feck off when they're done and leave the road as is. Then we have contractors like the above, just ripped a freshly laid road up (planning could have been miles better here) and done a **** patchwork job to finish it off.

In Japan many cities don't allow large trucks into the built up area, this reduces wear on the roads (which are mostly pristine and a wonder to drive on) and the only large vehicles you'd see is a bus or coach and even that is rare. Not far from Oscar Traynor Road between Kilmore and Beaumont there's a bunch of speed bumps that will absolutely **** your suspension if you go over them faster than a crawl, there's potholes at the start and on them and this is due to articulated trucks delivering to the SuperValu there (I believe they aren't supposed to but I've seen them early in the morning).

I've had punctures over the last few years and I'd put my money on the majority of them being the result of hitting a pothole. There's very little controls or standards for the roads surfaces here. Some parts are concrete blocks, some tarmac with a wide variety of speed bumps, most of which not only reduce speed but will leave your suspension in bits over time.

listermint · 04-10-2021 4:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975373#Comment_117975373

Resurfaced.... I've found the that the Roads Authority both at national and county level seen to think that stoned tar is now the most suitable surface to fling down on many N and R roads. Bizarre . We had a perfectly tarmacadam R road there which had some minor repairs required. They scratched it up. Threw down some bitumen and then scattered stones all over it. Leaving traffic to bed it in.

And this is safe ? On a blind accident prone bend too

mickdw · 04-10-2021 4:48pm

I looked at obtaining a road opening licence a year or 2 back and all I will say is they appear to have the paperwork side covered anyway and contractors must have all applicable insurances etc before being granted licence to do a road crossing or whatever.

The issue must be that there is no checking by the council on completion.

I will add that there appears to be no communication between the various service providers when it comes to resurfacing in town centres.

ARX · 04-10-2021 5:30pm

I've cycled about 20,000 km around Europe, from the Atlantic coast of France to the Russian border and from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Bothnia. So I have a pretty good acquaintance with European roads of all kinds, from French dual carriageways to Hungarian boulevards to Lithuanian farm roads.

Ireland has the worst roads I've seen. I've seen a handful of roads in eastern Europe that are worse than anything I've seen here, but on the whole I would say the average standard of Irish roads is the worst in Europe, and not by a small margin.

I know we have an enormous amount of road per capita, and that in consequence not every road can be surfaced like a billiard table, but imho much of the blame for the rotten state of our roads falls to slovenly contractors taking the p1ss and local authorities who let them away with it.

It's depressing.