That thing would have a systems failure in Christchurch!
bjmh,
Mar 17, 9:06pm
and we still have metal roads everywhere rurally
henderson_guy,
Mar 18, 4:01am
It's not the most expensive vehicle on the roads though. far from it!
tintop,
Mar 18, 6:40am
True - it does the work of a couple of hundred guys with pencils and clipboards though.
poppy62,
Mar 18, 7:05am
The Roading contractors should be made to guarantee their work for a specified period of time. The poor quality of resealing work on some roads are abysmal at best. The seal/chip is non existent within a week of resurfacing. The main road from Bombay towards Pukekohe is one example as well as several in the Kaipara district. No other industry would get a way with such poor quality workmanship and I'd like to think my road tax is utilised to the best quality.
gunhand,
Mar 18, 7:11am
Yep, they wouldn't know how to seal a zip lock bag if ya ask me. Mind you, there is no money in things that last.
neville48,
Mar 18, 7:42am
Why is it we all get told that the roading monies has to be used up by april each year or the new years amount decreases because the need was not there. Coincidently a hell of a lot of roading maintainance all of a suddenly gets top priority at this time of year and the seemingly random spending is everywhere. Coincidence ?
tweake,
Mar 18, 7:45am
road works in nz is a joke and probably near on a scam.
just because they inspect doesn't mean they will fix. we have had numerous deaths due to lack of maintenance. they even wrote into local paper to say "the potholes where not on the driving line so they won't be fixed" yet they where in the middle of the wear pattern on the road. another one wrote in telling BS about there crap work blaming weather that never happened. most repairs end up with the seal coming off, pot holes formed and then patched and the result is the road is in the exact same condition that it was before the 'repair'. i have never seen anyone do a proper pot hole repair. the left side of the fog line is unmaintained. you take a big risk pulling over for traffic or emergency services. we regularly have roads that have to get resealed over and over because it just comes off within hours. NZ has some real mickey mouse roading contractors and its a real insult that good companies are not allowed to tender for a job. companies have to be invited to tender. so is kiwi tax payers get a good deal or being ripped off ?
xs1100,
Mar 18, 8:06am
try the new Waikato expressway closed for resurfacing heading north and obviously once that sides done the south side
tintop,
Mar 18, 8:47am
Sealing can be more of an art than a science, but although well established methodologies are there - screwups do occur even to the most experienced contractors. The worst one of course is prats speeding through fresh work.
The contracts usually include a maintenance period and part payment is retained until the end of the period and all maintenance items being attended to.
Contracts are not awarded on a price only basis, renderers must be able to show that they have experience as well as a satisfactory track record. Any that cannot show satisfactory 'attributes' will not be awarded a contract regardless of the tendered price.
Maintenance funding is provided on an annual basis, but there is only a relatively narrow window of a few months where the weather is stable enough for sealing. Also - there are not so many certified spray tankers available, contractors need to be confident of work before they invest in expensive plant that may be unused for the greater part of the year. If there is a late start to the 'sealing season', there may well be a 'hurry up' at the end of the season.
tweake,
Mar 19, 5:24am
absolutely. but then again where was the traffic control ?
if they held $$$ back etc then the shonky guys wouldn't make anything. but there seams to be no shortage of appalling road repairs. so obviously they are making enough to stay in business. more likely there is little or no quality control, so their contract gets paid.
nesta129,
Mar 20, 4:48am
i remember Ti Rakau road in Pakuranga only been sealed once in the 10 years I lived around there.But over the last four or five years,there is always some re-sealing,whatever done on the same stretch of road done annually which is hugely annoying. I am sure thats not the only place with such yearly work done!
tintop,
Mar 20, 6:32am
uku
Yes, things like that can happen - maintenance is deferred due to budget cutting / lack of funding. The surfacing deteriorates and things get worser faster once water starts to get in.
craigs_workshop,
Mar 20, 6:36am
i would say the volume of trucking
trucks
heavy vehicles
tintop,
Mar 20, 7:17am
Indeed - don't have the info at hand - but one legal truck axle is equivalent to many many cars. Another thing is that an overload accounts for a very high proportion of the total wear.
From a US comparison table I found, an increase in axle load from 9t to 13.5t results in about 6 times the wear of the smaller load - hence the weigh stations scattered about. .
tweake,
Mar 20, 9:03am
trucks, as far as fresh road works go they make little difference imho. its all surface damage and its generally the worse on the entry and exit. ie cars still on the brakes at the start and hitting the gas early on the exit.
but then again i was following trucks doing 110km/h through 50km/h road works. road works on passing lanes are worse, its just one big drag race all over the road, stones flying everywhere. the cheap crowds don't do traffic control so all hell breaks loose.
tintop,
Mar 20, 7:07pm
All contractors are required to comply with the traffic management code ( Google CoPTTM ) But like anything regarding anything on a road - there needs to be responsible behaviour from road users as well.
Soooo, let me get this right -You do 110km/h through a signed temporary speed restriction of 50km/h, but its the cheap contractors fault ?
smac,
Mar 20, 7:54pm
"Only surface damage"? Which bit of the make up of a road bed do you think makes it water proof? Once it's no longer water proof, that's when damage to the underlying bed occurs.
tweake,
Mar 21, 5:29am
so why do some put lots of cones up, direct traffic, slow traffic down until the job is fully complete and others, who are working on the exact same section of road, have bare minimum of cones and traffic control and remove everything 5 mins after they lay the seal leaving traffic to hoon through at will? [quote] Soooo, let me get this right -You do 110km/h through a signed temporary speed restriction of 50km/h, but its the cheap contractors fault ?[/quote] i wasn't doing 110km/h, the trucks where. i slowed down they didn't. but point being there was no traffic controls, no cones, nothing to slow them down. you know what drivers are like, if there no controls in place they go full speed and don't give a crap. thats why you put traffic controls in place.
tweake,
Mar 21, 5:31am
its not damaged long term, the road is resealed shortly after. then again. and again.
tintop,
Mar 21, 7:26am
Yep
First coat - prime coat seal and grit/small chip, Second coat - full bitumen coat and large chip Third coat - lower bitumen application, smaller 'locking' chip coat
But it is not as straight forward as it sounds. A balance has to be struck between not having a residual binder application rate and loosing chip, and having too much and having the binder 'flush up' and be level with the top of the stone chips.
All this to be achieved over a variable base course surface, variable traffic patterns, and the vagaries of the weather,
tweake,
Mar 21, 7:55am
about right. for a proper job. but around here most don't. its one coat, no metering on the trucks let alone checking the metering, so way to much chip and it dosn't bed properly and lifts off.
tintop,
Mar 21, 7:59am
tweake wrote: about right. for a proper job. but around here most don't. its one coat, no metering on the trucks let alone checking the metering, so way to much chip and it dosn't bed properly and lifts off.[/quote
It is always better to slightly over chip from ideal than under chip. It ensures that there is enough to get full coverage, as long as the over chipping is not excessive
gunhand,
Mar 21, 9:01am
Yet on some super highways over seas they can have a crew out, fix a pothole quick as and it stays fixed forever. yet here when anything is done to a road it takes 6 weeks. First lot dig it up and do what ever then leave it still a hole with gravel tossed in it, next crew seal it and leave a mess, it fails in two days then 4 weeks later its a huge mess and another crew attempts a temp fix before sometime two years after that its fixed, then its a great lump that can kill ya. Just after its all sweet someone decides to tear it up to lay a drain.
tweake,
Mar 21, 9:47am
don't get me started on pot holes ! some guy leaning out mid traffic to pour something in the hole, car drives straight through it splash whatever out of the hole. a bit of hot mix stomped in and a day later its all come out. then they tarseal the road without fixing the holes, then fill in the holes after and the fill comes straight back out. end result a road in the same condition it was before the repairs, and taxpayer is footing the bill.
btw thats all SH1, not local back roads.
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