Think potholes on our roads are getting worse? You're right – and here's why
Think potholes on our roads are getting worse? You're right – and here's why
Our new research found Australia is spending $1 billion less on maintaining roads than we need – and the biggest reason for that gap is federal funding.
[Roads] are getting worse because we’re not spending enough to maintain them.
Three-quarters of our roads are managed by local councils.
Every year, those councils spend A$1 billion less on maintenance than is needed to keep those roads in their current condition – let alone improve them.
New Grattan Institute research finds the typical regional area has a funding shortfall of more 40%. In remote areas, it’s more than 75%.
One reason for this underspend is that untied federal government grants to local councils haven’t kept pace with soaring costs.
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Tight budgets make it tempting to delay maintenance.
But delaying will only end up costing more in the long run, leaving taxpayers paying more to fix more badly damaged roads.
Also cars and trucks are getting heavier. Damage to the road scales exponentially with the weight of the vehicle. https://streets.mn/2016/07/07/chart-of-the-day-vehicle-weight-vs-road-damage-levels/
Are potholes actually repairable? Or is it shonky repair work? Because I swear there are some that reappear whenever there is the slightest rain.
What pisses me off more is that when a road is repaved, you can guarantee that some utility or other will be digging it up within 5 minutes, leaving patches and lines criss-crossing it and so uneven that the jarring bumps set off my dashcam collision event recording.
If the road had a decent foundation to start with, potholes shouldn’t form at all.
If the foundation of the road has been compromised, patching a pothole will not prevent it from coming back.
Road construction tenders in the late 1990s, early 2000s were very competitive so there are a lot of roads built during this period that were built on a shoestring with no repair clauses. (ie. shit)
Road construction tenders in the late 1990s, early 2000s were very competitive so there are a lot of roads built during this period that were built on a shoestring with no repair clauses. (ie. shit)
What‽ But we were told more competition would lead to higher quality at a lower price!
Typically a memorandum goes into place after paving. Cities will send letters out to utilities to do work now before they pave through.
And yet, inevitably, a couple of weeks after the roax is laid, someone wi be digging it up...