Pothole Parade

[PanBiker]

Hard to believe that this used to be the main road to Salterforth!

[David Whipp]

I'll not get out for a walk if I relate the saga of Salterforth Lane's decades long lack of repair... I'm hopeful though that effective work will be carried out in the next 12 months.



Here's Coates Avenue. The section from Skipton Road to Avon Drive is particularly bad.

The whole length of Coates Avenue is now in the programme for full resurfacing during the next financial year.

[David Whipp]

Yesterday's walk took us round the top end of town and up to Letcliffe Park, sticking to paved surfaces rather than muddy fields. This nasty pothole is on Colne Road at the top of Club Row.

[David Whipp]

I was out and about this morning when I got a phone call about a manhole cover being broken by a lorry at the bottom of Monkroyd.

The county council put some barriers up to stop anyone falling down the hole. It's up to BT to repair the manhole lid.

[Stanley]

No wonder it broke. Those are pedestrian covers!

[David Whipp]

Suspect the truck had pulled onto the pavement to park whilst waiting to unload at Carlson Filtration. I passed a wagon and draw with a foreign plate on Church Street on my way to Monkroyd Avenue. Carlsons had had a delivery that morning...

[David Whipp]

Small pothole at the bottom of Monkroyd Avenue (taken the day before the manhole in the pavement on the right was broken).

On the left, Alison and Lucy walk on to get away from the strange bloke who keeps diving into the road with his camera...

[David Whipp]

Park Avenue at the junction with Manchester Road.

I'm told that repairs were being carried out on this section today.

[David Whipp]

Manchester Road, above Park Avenue.

[David Whipp]

Rainhall Road.

One of the many broken up areas of road from Essex Street down to Long Ing. These were marked up for permanent patching three years ago, but the work has never been done. A nuisance for residents suffering the heavy traffic to and fro from Silentnight.

[David Whipp]

Here's Park Avenue after the potholes were filled in near its junction with Manchester Road.

[Stanley]

It's lousy patching jobs like that which breed next winter's potholes!

[David Whipp]

Quite!

Just out of shot, towards Cobden Street, the pots had been cut out and squared off properly.

[Stanley]

I often wonder whether the outside contractors they use are paid on the number of repairs, same applies to the gulley grate emptiers, doesn't seem to pay to do a proper job.

[David Whipp]

This is an example of a quick and dirty pothole repair; this pot on Colne Road was filled in quickly to make it safe.

If you look back to my 'before' picture, you can see the sharp edge of the pothole next to metalwork. Potentially lethal for someone on a bike or motorbike, these need filling in quickly. I think that's why it's just been filled with bitmac and tamped down; the work was done within a day of me asking.

It may be a temporary repair. A similar pot on Fernlea Avenue near the junction of Albert Road appears to have been properly cut out and emulsioned. I think that one, too, was initially bodged as is the one above.

[Stanley]

There is a loose manhole cover in Gisburn Road opposite the entrance to Valley Gardens. It's getting worse, makes a real clang if a heavy vehicle crosses it.

[David Whipp]

I'll report that Stanley.



Not the best of pictures, due to it being a hurried shot between traffic. Skipton Road near the junction of West Close Road.

A year ago, part of Skipton Road and the end of Wellhouse Road was planed off and resurfaced. It was obvious at the time that the adjacent crazed surface of Skipton Road would become potholed this winter. Highway engineers are telling me that the stretch will be permanently patched and subsequently surface dressed.

I'm also advised that new 'rules' require 12 weeks notice of any road closures for repair work.

[Stanley]

I realised yesterday that the loose manhole is further up the road, opposite the end of Gisburn Street.

[David Whipp]

Skipton Road opposite the newly named Coates Wharf houses. Patched up once this winter, the pothole is redeveloping in the middle of the 'repair'.

[Stanley]

While the properly cut out patch next to it survives.....

[David Whipp]

While the properly cut out patch next to it survives.....

I can't remember if that patch is a proper repair done after last winter, or the reinstatement from when the water supply for Coates Wharf was connected to the main in Skipton Road.

[Stanley]

Whatever it is it has been properly cut out and demonstrates the fact that just plonking some tarmac in the hole and stamping on it doesn't constitute a good repair.

[PanBiker]

None of these "repairs" seem to have any bitumen seal around the edges, which although practical and providing a proper finish to the job is the bane of motorcyclists in the wet. Particularly on larger patches, there is no friction on the neat edging and can be a skid hazard for bikers when wet. Far preferable to a hole in the road, you can cater for the skid hazard with road awareness, but not the potholes.

[David Whipp]

I've read that sealing the edges has ceased in some areas for the reasons given by Ian. It's still done by Lancashire; I'll try and take some pictures of examples.

It appears to me that some of what I'd call bodging repairs are done on a fire fighting basis. Bitmac is chucked into the hole and tamped down without any preparation. This may be done relatively quickly as a temporary measure with a permanent repair carried out at a later date.

I struggle to find any rhyme or reason in the speed or quality of repairs carried out; I've been making a conscious effort to record defects, especially in the last few weeks; I'm baffled why some potholes have been filled in properly and quickly (eg Edmondson Street) whilst round the corner (eg on Bracewell Street) a much worse pothole still awaits attention.

[David Whipp]

Here's a repair done in the last few days on Skipton Road which shows evidence of plenty of emulsion around the edges; not sure that this is the slippery stuff referred to by Ian.