New so-called tarmac

[Captain Jack]

So, driving into Bristol on A38 today, I ran across a patch of road-works where instead of laying proper tarmac, they just randomly threw around loose pebbles and left it for shiny new cars to press it down. Accompanied, were the mandatory 20mph and "risk of skidding" signs along with a fire engine and a car in a ditch

Which leads me on to a question: how safe or legal are these things? Obviously, not safe and I've seen miles of roads stretching along with these loose stones lying around.... being stuck doing 20mph along what would be a 60mph limit, along with the fact that every single thing that drives over it gets covered in stone chips. Le sigh...

[KozmoNaut]

If you think it's bad in a car, try riding a motorcycle through it

I have no idea how it's still legal to use that kind of road surfacing.

[GingerMagic]

I've been on these surfaces before - imagine my excitement* when traveling sideways down a hill in a 26tonne lorry on what feels like ball-bearings..

I mustard mitt its been a while since I've driven on such a surface, down here it seems we have resorted to old skool tarmac, for when they put multiple traffic lights and lane markings on a teeny tiny roundabout, pfft...

[Captain Jack]

I've been on these surfaces before - imagine my excitement*

*excrement

[rwb]

Round here they don't even bother filling in the pot holes before they 'stick' the pebbles down.

On the latest patch the pebbles are so coarse that the edges of the road markings look fuzzy, and the road noise is deafening.

[FarmerPug]

They put that shite on seemingly good roads aswell as the potholed ones, the problem is 20mph is still too fast if you want to avoid an alternative to sandblasting the underside of your car.

Apparently its done to protect the road from damage during the winter months

[DaiRees]

It's horrible stuff. They've recently resurfaced a road near me that I travel several times every day. What really annoys me is that it didn't even need doing. I wonder whether it's supposed to be higher grip or something?

[Welly]

The call it road 'dressing' round my way, it's carefully* laid down on roads which look fine but they say it protects the 'proper' road surface underneath from damage. I believe they can only do it so many times before a major resurfacing is required.

Biggest problem is all the f*cking cock-warblers in their company Audi's who just carry on bezzing down the road like normal showering everyone else in stones

[teamster1975]

If you think it's bad in a car, try riding a motorcycle through it

I'll second that, especially if it's dark and you don't know the road!

[trufflehunt]

The call it road 'dressing' round my way, it's carefully* laid down on roads which look fine but they say it protects the 'proper' road surface underneath from damage. I believe they can only do it so many times before a major resurfacing is required.

Biggest problem is all the f*cking cock-warblers in their company Audi's who just carry on bezzing down the road like normal showering everyone else in stones

Yes, it's formal name is 'surface dressing', or colloquially 'tar spraying'. Fill up the worst of the holes with crap, a quick spray of tar, then scatter a layer of
chips on to stick to the tar.

It's the cheapest form of road treatment that a council can say it's doing without being accused of lying.
It's good for about 6 months absolute max, I think.

[Welly]

To the young hot-shot who tail-gated me through the recently laid stones this morning when I was doing 25mph and then hooned past showering me with said stones you can FRO in your Bini Cooper you absolute twat.

And yes you can look sheepish when I catch up with you later and sit on your bumper for 5 minutes, see how you like it.

They've started with the tar/stones shiz around here now and EVERYONE is just blasting through as normal does nobody care about anything anymore?

[Doggy]

Same thing in my neck of the woods, (though our version actually looks black), but the chippings are still getting sprayed around good-style.
To be fair some of the roads are being planed back enough to reveal huge craters where the last lot of potholes were repaired* about 18 months ago.

[Welly]

I'm now noticing that this stuff doesn't stay stuck down so well these days. They swept* up a stretch yesturday to collect the surplus chippings and now you can hear even more clattering in the wheel arches and underneath

Also at junctions where vehicles turn their wheels and accelerate from the stuff it's all coming away leaving black Tar.

[Captain Jack]

Shirley the country can't be that bankrupt that we have to resort to 3rd world methods of laying down the roads...?

That said, I do like the new motorway 'mac they put around here, just like the tarmac on French E-roads. Very quiet and smooth.

[Welly]

Someone must* have calculated this treatment of roads is beneficial to the lifespan and therefore 'value' of the road in the long term. From my perspective it looks like it's being done on the cheap, or the wet tar shiz is 'eco friendly' and therefore rubbish because the chippings don't stay put so what's the use?

Boring fact: 'quiet' tarmac is actually two-layers of porous Ashphalt; the tyre noise and surface water soaks down to the layer below, if you look at the upper surface it's actually quite open/coarse, a bit like a sponge. Tyre noise is significantly reduced on these surfaces.

carry on...