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Have you seen any slurry seal near you?

(36 posts)
  • Started 5 years ago by Greenroofer
  • Latest reply from gembo

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  1. Greenroofer
    Member

    I've noticed that the shared-use footway up Gogar Station Road has been treated with slurry seal, as has a section of footway at the west end of Morningside Drive.

    The result is what was a relatively (in the case of Gogar Station Road extremely) smooth pavement has been converted into something that's rough and extremely draggy. The hill up Gogar Station Road is now considerably more difficult to ride, and the pavement on Morningside Drive is much less attractive for scooters and wheelchairs than it was.

    Have you seen this applied near you? Is it a city-wide thing, or just a local experiment?

    Here's a video, in case you're wondering what it is

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    Posted 5 years ago #

  2. Frenchy
    Member

    Spokes had a meeting with some council officers a while ago where this was mentioned. I'm pretty sure it's a city-wide thing, although I thought it was only done to footways, rather than shared use pavements.

    I'd be happy to follow up with the officers.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  3. Greenroofer
    Member

    Thanks @Frenchy - I've already dropped a note to the Active Travel team. I'm an Active Travel Forum member too, so I may raise it there if they aren't able to give a substantive response.

    It's made Gogar Station Road barely rideable. If it fails in any way it will be unrideable, and I'm bemused by the prioritisation process (if any) that made it seem like a good idea there.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    “converted into something that's rough and extremely draggy”

    What is the reason for doing it?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    @greenroofer, i noticed this going down the way. Does feel wider now for some reason?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  6. Greenroofer
    Member

    @chdot - provides a surface seal and prevents further deterioration of a path that is beginning to break up. Much quicker and cheaper than proper resurfacing and can extend life. Not necessarily bad unless done badly or in the wrong place.

    @gembo GSR footway feels wider because they cut back the broom and cleared all the vegetation back to the kerbs on both sides.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  7. gembo
    Member

    Ah to help them spay the slurry seal? As @greenroofer says, the path was not too bad before. So mot sure why done now? Not tried cycling up it just the bit from Hermiston to canal

    Posted 5 years ago #

  8. bill
    Member

    @Greenroofer I was wondering they they put that stuff as the surface was OK. I didn't notice that the hill is much more difficult to cycle but then I don't push very hard on that hill.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  9. Snowy
    Member

    Similarly baffled as to why this was done.

    I note they didn't do the section on the motorway bridge (presumably different ownership) so watch out for the surface transition when the weather turns frosty.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  10. crowriver
    Member

    It's all about making the footway budget go further.

    See here for runways and roads getting the slurry seal treatment in NZ.

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Plugin

    Posted 5 years ago #

  11. acsimpson
    Member

    "It's all about making the footway budget go further."

    If I understand it correctly the strange thing about GSR is that it didn't need recoated just yet. There are plenty of other paths/pavements which could/should have been higher priority.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  12. Tulyar
    Member

    Was the slurry coat hand laid?

    We specified slurry coat for first section of Loch Lomond Cycleway in 1996, to deliver a smooth finish over a larger (20 or 40mm DBM - also machine laid)

    Later paths went for a 10mm DBM, single pass at 60mm thick on a Type 1 compacted sub base typically 150mm with a filter membrane (geotextile) over poor soils, or direct on a sound railway track bed.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  13. Morningsider
    Member

    More slurry squelched onto Morningside Drive pavements. A really poor job - obvious ridges and furrows. The surface itself is also super rough, very nasty for buggies and scooters. To make things worse the pavement was never coned off - so people have walked though wet slurry, leaving obvious footprints.

    I know council budgets are stretched - but they should save the cash for decent quality, targeted repairs rather than this nonsense.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  14. Greenroofer
    Member

    There is already grass growing through the surface on Gogar Station Road, two weeks after it was laid. This suggests that it wasn't weed treated first (which it should be if Kent Council's video above is to be believed). With grass growing through already, the surface is going to be lifting in a matter of weeks.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  15. Greenroofer
    Member

    I've just observed that the footway outside Morningsider Mansions has been slurry sealed. I hope that Greenroofer Towers isn't lined up for treatment too.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  16. gembo
    Member

    @greenroofer, perhaps it is just a nightmare you will wake from - your whole life is being surrounded by slurry seal?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  17. fiefster
    Member

    Road closed at Cramond Brig this morning. Worker at bottom of hill said they were laying slurry seal towards Brae Park Road.

    I queried why he couldn't have informed cyclists of this fact at the top of hill rather than making me pech back up to the pub car park.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  18. acsimpson
    Member

    Yes, complete nonsense. The only way to get out of town towards Queensferry this morning was along the A90 out of town. No warning at Barnton either, cyclists were on Braepark Road before being told they would have to cycle back up to Barnton.

    Who authorises this sort of abuse?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  19. twinspark
    Member

    Just picking up on a few general points:-
    - Residents do appear to get a general notification through the door that the work is going to take place, however the note also informs that the work may already have commenced!
    - There's no notification that work is actually commencing. Hence people in affected areas having to walk across wet surface to get to train stations, hospital appointments etc., which if they'd known about actual work in advance they could potentially have planned around.
    - Pavements get blocked off at the ends of the works, there appears to be no recognition of the fact that pedestrians can and do cross roads not necessarily at junctions.
    - There's an expectation that pedestrians have to walk in the road, but no protection has been set up for them. I was walking down Morningside Drive and had a car driven fast and close to me, even although it should have been obvious that works were going on..... they'd just passed the lorry with the operatives clearly working on the pavement.
    - Where people have either had to walk on the pavements or were not aware of the works, the pavements are a mess with footprints, pushchair tracks etc.
    - The leaflet mentions cutting back plant growth from gardens to allow sealing up to walls... this hasn't happened. I would imagine water may pool next to walls where the surface hasn't been sealed and if the frost gets in?!
    - Although access hatches were taped off, certainly on the South side of Morningside Drive the sealant overlaps the hatches. Could lead to problems shutting off water etc. but more fundamentally any access to these hatches is likely to damage the surface.
    - In the same area, I noted prior to sealant there were a number of weeds growing through the existing surface... given comments about Gogar Station Road I wonder how long these will take to come through.
    - Aesthetically it doesn't look brilliant but may be better than the patchwork of patches from previous works.
    - It may make the pavements a little less slippy if there's a slight frost as there will be some "key" to the surface?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  20. Greenroofer
    Member

    I wrote the the Active Travel team about this, but not had a response yet. What is the hive mind's view of the next action? FoI request (if so, what?)? Councillors?

    It's a poorly executed shambles. I'm not against slurry seal per se, just the rubbish implementation of it here.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  21. Frenchy
    Member

    I can PM you the email address of the person in charge of the council's footway repairs programme.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Seal slurry deployed in the Inch. No idea why.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  23. acsimpson
    Member

    Slurry seal to the east of but not on Crammond Brig. And no where near the moon scape on the western side. I suspect it would have been passable all day by careful negotiation of the verge, grr.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  24. Greenroofer
    Member

    Thanks @Frenchy. I'm mostly interested in this from an Active Travel perspective: I'm not against slurry seal as a thing, but rather the poor implementation we've seen here. Going to the footway people is one route, but I'm also keen to get a response from the AT people about their involvement (or lack of it) in priorisation of the process and quality assurance of the outcomes.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  25. gembo
    Member

    Active travel people and slurry seal no overlap on Venn diagram?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  26. HankChief
    Member

    A full list of footways that have or are due for Slurry seal are in the appendix to the TEC paper.

    "There were no local footway slurry sealing schemes delivered in 2018/19. This was due to contractor availability. All the schemes that were due to be delivered in 2018/19 have been carried forward and will now be delivered in 2019/20."

    https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s9501/Item%208.3%20-%20Infrastructure%20Capital%20Investment%20Update.pdf

    Posted 5 years ago #

  27. gembo
    Member

    Easter Road has been well scraped big ramps and bumps where personhole covers are. Will be tarmacadam going down though i think.

    Avoided by returning on leith walk but cycle lane rammed with 4x4 and a flatbed truck had no exhaust so fumes terrible.

    Had nice time cutting through the back streets between the two main roads

    Posted 5 years ago #

  28. gembo
    Member

    Currie Kirkgait from bottom right to the top? All feckin slurry seal

    Posted 5 years ago #

  29. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    Kirkgate footway or road?

    Posted 5 years ago #

  30. MediumDave
    Member

    Pavements on Murieston Road are being slurry-sealed. I did wonder what all the duct tape was for earlier this evening.

    Posted 5 years ago #

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