Tag: road repairs

April 8th – It’s that time of year again. Following the big freeze, potholes and fissures open up in the roads. This is a normal process caused by wear, and the hydraulic shearing action of water under vehicle tyres. I notice many main roads have suffered this year – maybe worse than the side routes. Here at Lichfield Road, Sandhills, ice seems to have lifted and crazes the tarmac, which has broken down to grit – itself dangerous to the incautious cyclist.

Report anything like this directly to the appropriate council using http://www.fixmystreet.com – it’s free and surprisingly effective.

May 25th – Back to Walsall. On my way into Bilston, I travel, as I often do, down Scarborough Road, Pleck. The surface of this road has been terrible for ages, and following complaints most of it has now been patched up, even though I was recently told by a Walsall Highway engineer that surveyors ’…Didn’t consider it dangerous’. I thank the council for sorting it.

Oddly, the last hundred yards or so – containing the most hazardous potholes – remains untouched, though clearly marked for repair. This loose gravel is a danger to all traffic, but to anyone on two wheels – motorised or otherwise – it’s deadly. Motorcyclists christen this loose detritus ‘marbles’ due to it’s slippery, destabilising effect, and it’s a real pain. This needs fixing. It’s time all road engineers woke up to this hazard.

Perhaps the permanently parked vehicles have been in the way, but I wish it could be sorted.