CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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A record number of 824 bungled road repairs are currently waiting to be fixed throughout Edinburgh – more than twice the number recorded just three years ago.
Now frustrated city chiefs have issued the five main utility firms with a final warning before referring them to the Scottish Road Works Commissioner, a body that has the power to issue £50,000 fines.
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About time too!!!
+1
It's not clear if those faults include things like road changes (Meadows to Innocent) having lines painted in the wrong place and so on, or if it's just companies and utilities who need to dig up roads for their utilities. But yes, +1 certainly.
The list probably isn't surprising, given they've picked the 5 major utilities oligopolies that will be digging up the roads anyway.
I'm not sure how Lothian Buses didn't make the list (even if the damage they cause is a by-product of their service, rather than intentional hole digging and poor quality hole-filling).
I see the Chipwrapper has found a new rent-a-quote from the motoring lobby to mirror Neil Greig's ubiquitous commentary.
Is it £50,000 a hole or £50,000 a utility?
Is it really Lothian Buses that is the problem? Other cities seem to manage to run buses without their roads crumbling to bits.
PS, the council should really have named themselves for continually letting them get away with it.
"while more than 550 fixed penalty notices of between £80 and £120 were dished out to companies for failing to properly register their roadworks."
I would suspect that it might cost more than that to pay the staff to properly register the roadworks. It certainly doesn't seem high enough to be a deterrent to the companies involved.
"Is it really Lothian Buses that is the problem? Other cities seem to manage to run buses without their roads crumbling to bits."
Possibly a combination of some very heavy buses on insufficiently-resilient surfaces, maybe combined with some tight manoeuvring, or poor suspension? I haven't stared at many buses in many other cities much recently but did notice in one particular Spanish place that the buses were all quite small (roughly EMHorsburgh-shuttle-sized, but a bit lower and newer) and that a fair few had big scrapes on their rear flanks aft of the wheels, though it wasn't obvious if this was due to arguments with other vehicles or with buildings in some of the pokier streets.
"Possibly a combination of some very heavy buses on insufficiently-resilient surfaces"
That is definitely a factor(s).
It's basic physics - lots of energy dissipated (particularly) at bus stops.
LB buses certainly accelerate as rapidly as traffic allows which all adds to extra carriageway wear.
But for all the 'tarmac waves' at bus stops there are lots of unpleasant (for bikes) trenches.
I'm pretty sure that Tulyar has specified in detail on A. N. Other threat how Edinburgh's bus stops should be constructed to deal with the additional weight/power of modern buses. So you're right it's probably the council's fault for not constructing bus stops to a sufficient standard to cope with the switch from high-to-low floor bus fleets.
The Alliance of British Drivers is quite something. They're looking for patrons if anyone here fits the bill;
Actor / Actress
Businessman/woman
Celebrity Chef
former Chief Constable / DCC / ACC
Comedian
Footballer
Holder of a Royal Honour
Magician
Member of the House of Lords
Model
Musician / Singer
Politician
Racing driver
Radio presenter
Rally driver
Scientist
Sportsman/woman
TV presenter
"The Alliance of British Drivers is quite something"
Yes.
Though I haven't noticed letters/quotes from them in the ENews lately.
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AWPR
The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, which should have been built years ago, continues to be delayed by objectors. It is not acceptable than such minorities should hold Aberdeen to ransom. They had their chance to object and lost. Further objections should not be allowed.
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IWRATS - well, that ABD link was entertaining. I've never seen Avril Lavinge and Einstein quoted together. A mite confused though, Krushchev is listed as both a "bad guy" and a "good guy".
While my modelling days are behind me, I'm happy to patronise the ABD any time they wish.
"my modelling days are behind me"
Same for the existing patrons -
Association of Rightwing Petrolheads would be closer to the mark if their patrons are anything to go by.
Why would anyone would want that misogynist, xenophobic, climate-change denying, crackpot flat-earther Godfrey Bloom on board in an attempt to be taken seriously?
Re bus tarmac waves:
I've no idea if this is true, but I was told years (at least 10) ago that one the of the reasons for this was the depth of tarmac on Edinburgh streets as a result of the way tramlines were removed.
IIRC, the theory was that when the tramlines were dug out, rather than build up a baselevel of setts/hard standing/whatever, the holes were simply filled with tarmac, meaning that great swathes of the road is, in effect, liquid.
@PS London Road is visibly about 4 or 5 inches of tarmac directly laid over setts. They were digging up sections near us recently but sadly only the outside lanes as I was keen to see what evidence remained of the tramlines on the inside.
IIRC, the theory was that when the tramlines were dug out, rather than build up a baselevel of setts/hard standing/whatever, the holes were simply filled with tarmac, meaning that great swathes of the road is, in effect, liquid.
I certainly get the impression that underneath the thin layer of tarmac there is just perhaps sand or gravel or something like that.
@kaputnik
The Association of British Drivers" is the sole operating name of "Pro-Motor Ltd", a not-for-profit company limited by Guarantee and registered in England under number 02945728.
Now, where are we going to get them a magician?
Plasticine.
Instant coffee powder is also used to fill in trenches, to allow them to slump at the first ingress of moisture.
“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell, or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”
Ignoring the fact that they seem to have invoked Godwin's Law before even starting a discussion, I wonder if the six politicians who are patronising them have realised how anti politics they seem to be.
Quotes from the bad guys: “We have not been targeted to reduce deaths, we have been targeted to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured. We are saving lives from misery and from being in a permanent vegetative state.”
<Broom broom honk honk>, must be allowed to injure people as long as we promise not to kill them. </Broom broom honk honk>
“We have not been targeted to reduce deaths, we have been targeted to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured. We are saving lives from misery and from being in a permanent vegetative state.”
@acsimpson: I think it means the opposite:
That it's 'better' to kill outright than leave people disabled for life. So they don't care if deaths go up as long as injuries go down.
Either way, not nice
@Morningsider
I wouldn't expect a sophisticated organisation like the ABD to fall into a simple Manichaean fallacy. I'm sure Krushchev loved kittens as much as he loved driving his ZiL.
I'm pretty sure that Tulyar has specified in detail on A. N. Other threat how Edinburgh's bus stops should be constructed to deal with the additional weight/power of modern buses.
Tulyar recommended setts (which is what you find in Newcastle):
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7282&page=4#post-79040
Other cities seem to manage to run buses without their roads crumbling to bits.
Like that London, for example.
And your own note, K, about axle loadings:
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7282&page=5#post-79654
It remains to be seen how Morningside Road's new surface holds up. I spoke for quite a long time with the site manager when the old surface was being removed, and he explained in great detail why it had crumbled and subsided. Something to do with the surface course and binder course being the wrong materials or not containing the correct chippings.
"It remains to be seen how Morningside Road's new surface holds up"
Which will be a good test of the damage that the new buses do. I only cycle on a small part of it, but would be useful if those who use it a lot can report on its condition - say before and after the winter?
I can do similar with Broomhouse Drive which got a good makeover a few months ago and has number 22 buses thundering along it every few minutes.
London Road outside our flat was resurfaced about a month ago and is quite the bus corridor. I'll see how long before the cracks appear.
Glasgow roads are similarly setts covered in tarmac. What I've long wondered is did they raise the kerb stones or were they a few inches higher from the road before tarmac was added.
And there is some thought that the recurring ridges in Woodland's Rd are due to the way the tram tracks were lifted.
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