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Has anyone noticed just what an appalling state UK roads are at the moment?
I popped out for a shopping trip tonight and the car in front of me swerved quite vigorously just to avoid a crater in the road.
They're awful and will be a tad worse post cold snap!
We used to drive on the left. Now we drive on what's left!
During the referendum I was educated to the fact that the reason euro roads are so good is that we paid for them.
Amazingly that doesn't seem to have been true.
Along with hospital queues our roads are the most potent signs that Tories are horrible , useless ****s.
Perhaps an SUV is the most suitable vehicle for UK roads after all?.....
Along with hospital queues our roads are the most potent signs that Tories are horrible , useless ****.
That's precisely what it is.
https://www.localgov.co.uk/Council-chiefs-call-for-130m-to-fix-potholes/55782
It's going to get worse, so (literally) buckle up. Or be very, very careful on two wheels.
Line choice is more difficult on my road bike than my MTB offroad.
With the pressure on local authority budgets, road conditions will worsen.
LAs are 'managing deteriorating assets' with hugely restricted funding.
We're rapidly approaching a position where most LAs will be unable to do much more than fulfil their statutory obligations which are substantially less than the service provision we have today.
It is no longer a case of cutting spending by a (variable) % across service areas; the question now is...which services will we stop providing completely.
Councillors are eiected based on their manifesto, campaigning and performance of their party at national level.
Once elected - if appointed to a cabinet position so, a portfolio holder - they are tasked with taking decisions which, in most cases, they don't have the technical, financial or managerial skills to take.
This means they (attempt to) force council officers - call them technocrats - to attempt to implement and deliver the undeliverable.
Slick, efficient, vfm?
Let me think about that; after a
nano-second...NO.
Mixture of climate change, heavier and much more cars.
It's a vicious circle.
I suspect very hot & dry summer that caused record levels of subsidence followed by record breaking cold snaps this winter haven't helped.
Council funding decimated by 13 years of austerity then Covid messing with both council funding and repair schedules....
****panzers all over the place too
I expect there may be some effort put in before local elections on May to fix it as its a big issue on the local Facebook group, blaming the local council
But it's obviously a nationwide issue at the moment
Mixture of climate change, heavier and much more cars.
So nothing to do with poor maintenance then?
Considering we supposedly live in one of the wealthier countries the state of the roads is just one of many signs the money aint being distributed properly. See also
Demand at foodbanks
People living in caravans at the roadside
Litter and crap everywhere
Swimming pools closing
No one to look after the elderly as they can't get a decent wage
But yes, the roads are more ****ed than ever.
Oh come on.
How can big businesses hope to make make money when it's just being wasted on repairing roads?
It's just a pipedream, like free prescriptions, affordable energy, decent health care, funded higher education, decent public transport etc.
Those things could never happen.
Just pie in the sky thinking from the loony left.
Along with hospital queues our roads are the most potent signs that Tories are horrible , useless ****
How are hospitals and roads doing in Wales (Labour) and Scotland (SNP)?
As I've said on here before, but about ten years ago I spent six months driving all over Europe, like twenty odd countries.
The only place that had comparable roads to ours was Romania. And there much of the traffic was horses and carts.
Demand at foodbanks
People living in caravans at the roadside
Litter and crap everywhere
Swimming pools closing
No one to look after the elderly as they can’t get a decent wage
Funnily enough potholes & litter are 2 things that are regularly popping up on the local fb groups
The litter on the verges locally & the fly tipping in laybys is bonkers, maybe we could start using it to fill the potholes!
Even though they're arguably the least important on that list, they are the 2 that upsets people the most, I suppose it's easier to ignore the others.
How are hospitals and roads doing in Wales (Labour) and Scotland (SNP)?
A little better but noyt much but given that Westminstr hold the purse strings and stop the devolved governments actually having the money to spend on stuff
The roads in North Wales are considerably better than the ****ing cart tracks we currently have to negotiate in East Lancs.
Lots more work on drainage and surface improvement too.
Only on an MTB forum could we complain about all the new techy riding from the door that is being built for us 😀
...and when the holes do get filled in they last precisely 2 weeks before becoming holes again.
Why not get a ****ing guarantee on the works?
To fair when I rode the coast to coast about 5 years ago I was really stuck by the lack of potholes compared to the roads of Surrey and Kent.
I wasn't sure if it was due to the lack of vehicles or simply greater investment in infrastructure projects to create jobs.
I drove the M4 today - was pretty shocked at some of the craters on it.
I thought the motorways were always kept in good condition.
Been living in Portugal the last two years and driving in the UK is not one of the things I miss! Portuguese roads are far from perfect not to mention Portuguese drivers taking tailgating to a whole new level but comparatively it's a joy.
In the last 3 years I've done around 100000miles. I've not managed to wear a single tyre out, same for one of my colleagues seems to be endless punctures.
Up until 2020 I've maybe had 3 or 4 punctures in 20 years. I've had vehicles from new to worn out and never touched the spare.
Also seem to get through an alarming number of windscreens. Brand new Pilkington screen in February for the vans first MOT. Cracked in 3 hours.
Is it down to the roads getting much worse or am I just really unlucky/careless?
Our little road gets patched up every winter in exactly the same spots. It's obviously done on the cheap and under time pressure and it's obvious why.
See frankconway's post above.👍
Tbh, our apparent love of huge alloys and skinny tyres is doing us no favours here. It would cause upset, but I'd like to see an upper limit of say £100 on claims for tyre/vehicle damage resulting from potholes. Can we officially take the position that a tyre profile of less than xx is not fit for purpose for the UK's roads? It would be fun just to see the reaction on pistonheads.
I find it strange that with all the terrible stuff happening in the world, potholes seem to cause such anguish to so many
I find it strange that with all the terrible stuff happening in the world, potholes seem to cause such anguish to so many
And I find strange how anyone can attempt to compare/link all the terrible stuff happening in the world with potholes.
Potholes are the result of poor road maintenance. They are not inevitable. They can also be extremely dangerous, certainly for cyclists.
They are often bad at this time of year. perhaps it's a combination of end of financial year, frost, salt and perhaps awful working conditions- is it possible to fix a damaged road is horrible weather? I don't know, I'm thinking out loud I suppose.
Here in Carmarthenshire I have no complaints about the surfaces at all. The reference to the M4 (above) can't apply to the final stretch, I drive it on my commute and it is faultless. No problems whatsoever on the entire section from pont Abraham to The Coldra either yesterday.
Winter roads will degrade because of frost, salt, cold etc. We need to be cognisant of that. Drive according to the road conditions. Use your eyes, disengage cruise control, moderate your speed etc.
We have expectations about the conditions that the roads should be in but we also generally resent paying taxes. Also, locally, Carmarthenshire County Council are having way fewer applications for the Highways jobs. I'm uncertain of the wage but a friend (GCSE level education) reckons it's OK and has applied.
Politicians gain gound with promises of tax cuts: yet we all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If there is no money to find the staff and then to fix the problem what are we to do?
Considering we supposedly live in one of the wealthier countries
Largely because of our hight population. Can people stop out misleading fact to imply we must have load of money. We are well down the list.
Perhaps an SUV is the most suitable vehicle for UK roads after all?
It would have probably helped 2 months ago when I got a blowout in my Aygo which has very small wheels and relatively small amount of tyre height compared to a 4x4 or even SUV. Getting a blowout from a pothole at 7pm in an area with absolutely no lighting anywhere was not great fun to sort out. Combined with having to take a 10 mile detour to get around the flooded areas around the same time then I started to think that getting that 4x4 pickup I always wanted was becoming a sensible idea
They are often bad at this time of year. perhaps it’s a combination of end of financial year, frost, salt and perhaps awful working conditions- is it possible to fix a damaged road is horrible weather? I don’t know, I’m thinking out loud I suppose.
That plus others.
Councils, their funds cut to the bone by austerity, now have to bid for various pots of money that the Government creates and proudly announces. £xx hundred million for whatever!
Council writes bid and receives something like £264,209.74, ringfenced for pothole repairs. Allegedly this sum is derived from the quality of the bid and various factors like amount of road they control, deprivation factors etc but you can't help thinking that someone at DfT has a dartboard with sums of money stuck to it. There's no continual funding either so you can't create a proper pipeline of schemes and a repair schedule, you're literally living year to year of wondering what you'll be given then working out how to spend it.
Council needs to prioritise the repairs (cos that money will fix a tenth of the potholes at best...) and minimise disruption so there's always a rush on to do the job quickly.
The weather is always shit so the repairs don't hold well and even the slightest lump in it will lead to vehicles crashing over it which sets up vibrations and starts destroying the remaining repair. The fact the the UK seems to favour absurdly overweight ****er wagons is part of that too.
And the UK has all its utilities buried a few feet under the roads so they're forever being dug up anyway and the repair is another "get it done as quickly as possible" job.
Countries with defined seasons cope far better because you can pretty much guarantee warm dry weather to fix a road properly, then a couple of months where it'll be under a foot of snow which is fine. What ****s roads up is a cycle of freeze/thaw/freeze with a mix of rain, snow and salt over everything.
Also, far too many cars.
How would I as a concerned citizen go about making a hole safe?
I don’t mean putting a cone in it.
How are hospitals and roads doing in Wales (Labour) and Scotland (SNP)?
In my experience, Welsh roads are in far better condition than English roads.
How would I as a concerned citizen go about making a hole safe?
Report it.
https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole
Do not try and fix it yourself, you will potentially be liable if there's any incident as a result of that plus it'll cost the council far more when they eventually come to fix it if they have to dig out whatever "repair" has been done to it by a concerned citizen armed with a bag of cement...
How would I as a concerned citizen go about making a hole safe?
I don’t mean putting a cone in it.
Do a ****sy on it - seems to get them filled in quickly
https://www.boredpanda.com/****sy-penis-pothole-graffiti-manchester-england/
In rural areas one of the biggest problems is agricultural traffic.
When the Blp roads were built they were just not designed with the size/width,/weight of modern loaded tractors and trailers.
They're so wide thwy inevitably end up driving on the {unsupported} edge of the road which then collapses
Farm traffic trashes B roads in short order.
Who knew the UK councils were so pro- gravel riding?
Things aren't great in and around Southampton city centre, but the western South Downs lanes have been massively neglected in the past six years, making me look increasingly at a gravel/adventure bike just for what's left of the tarmac!
The general state of the lanes I've ridden around Denbighshire in the last few years are far better.
Tons of litter on the verges of trunk roads. Doesn’t Community Service exist anymore?
If this is the episode I'm thinking of it includes some details on why pothole filling is more complicated than you might think and why it doesn't work well in the cold
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000xrh
How are hospitals and roads doing in Wales (Labour) and Scotland (SNP)?
A little better but noyt much but given that Westminstr hold the purse strings and stop the devolved governments actually having the money to spend on stuff
The roads in North Tyneside are generally pretty crap save for a few re-tarmacced stretches, but I was in Glasgow for 7 weeks pre and post-Xmas and I was amazed at the dreadful state of the roads in general - bus/truck sized 'grooves' worn in the road surface, the depth of pot-holes generally hidden by water, and the equally dreadful state of pavements and paths. Admittedly I didn't get out of the city centre as I was there for work, so no comment on the surrounding areas. The M8/M73/M74/M6 is shocking in places - I reported one crater on the M6 just south of Gretna as it was in the 3rd lane and I reckon if you hit it the wrong/right way you'd lose a wheel if not more!
Tons of litter on the verges of trunk roads
Can't really blame councils for that. How about subhuman people don't chuck their waste out of their cars?
Not being a 'big' car user, but have noticed the motorways are getting quite dangerous with holes. I've not been on Princess Parkway near Hulme/Moss Side (Manchester) for ages, but my god, that has some massive ruts in it (I cycle up an alternative road).
It's saying something when you can outrun a 4x4 on your MTB on the road !
The state of the roads currently is abysmal, potholes everywhere, road markings non-existent, no maintenance of anything etc. On the M4 heading east up the hill to the M5 junction there is an actual tree growing between the 3rd lane and the barrier, has been for well over 2 years and is now easily big enough to cause serious damage if someone was to swipe the barrier and hit it head-on. The St Lawrence bridge in Bristol has been closed multiple times the last week or two so that they can do emergency patches on potholes round the expansion joints, they usually last a day or two before they break up again thanks to the cold weather.
It's only going to get worse too as there is absolutely no budget for repairs let alone catching up with the backlog.
The weather is always shit so the repairs don’t hold well and even the slightest lump in it will lead to vehicles crashing over it which sets up vibrations and starts destroying the remaining repair. The fact the the UK seems to favour absurdly overweight **** wagons is part of that too.
Trucks do absolutely pound the road if it's not in good nick, a small crack can develop into a big hole in a few days if that road has a lot of HGV traffic.
road markings non-existent
I forgot to mention this in my post. What has made things worse, given the escalating nature of the headlight brightness war going on, is the lack of, missing or crap, cats-eye's/marker posts etc and white lines on the roads. Driving at night, especially in the rain etc, is a lottery.
Oh, and if folks could stop using those big tyres on their bikes on the road that would be great too - bloody mountain bikers 😳 😂
Trucks do absolutely pound the road if it’s not in good nick,
Actually I've only just noticed the **** bit. I wasn't referring to trucks but to W⚓ wagons - as in, gigantic 4x4 that are so popular now.
Most other European countries haven't got that same issue (yet), they tend to favour smaller, less destructively heavy personal vehicles.
Most other European countries haven’t got that same issue (yet), they tend to favour smaller, less destructively heavy personal vehicles.
Well wait until the EV take over - more weight on narrower tyres!
The real culprits are HGVs, vans, etc.
Have you noticed all the recent pothole filling in? Even at the weekend's, I can only assume that it's the council's way to spend every last penny before the financial year end. I even spotted a council litter picker working last weekend.
There needs to be a better plan of looking after our roads than last minute temporary pothole repairs and the - tyre destroying - 'surface dressing' that is currently used.
The rapid deterioration of the roads around me is starting to be reflected in Strava segment names.
https://www.strava.com/segments/28655713?filter=overall
FWIW, the damage done by cars is miniscule compared to truck damage. If a road is designed for truck weights, the damage a car will do (even a full spec EV ****panzer at 3 tonnes) is at least 3 orders of magnitude less, depending on the axle configuration of the truck. (Worst case the truck could be doing several thousand times the damage).
Minor roads are a whole other issue though, even a normal 1000 kilo hatch will start breaking down the edge of a knackered road that was last maintained/repaired in the 80's. Especially when 26 different contractors have had a bit of it up in the last 5 years, and none of them doing a proper repair afterwards.
The weather is always shit so the repairs don’t hold well and even the slightest lump in it will lead to vehicles crashing over it which sets up vibrations and starts destroying the remaining repair.
Oooh, i dunno. We have utterly terrible weather and the roads are OK. They do spend a lot of time doing proper repairs though. And drainage is cleaned regularly.
(they do get worse the closer you get to the arctic circle though... and the drainage worse)
is starting to be reflected in Strava segment names.
And to be fair to NTC this segment needs renaming as its possibly now the finest, smoothest, loveliest bit of tarmac around 🤣
Roads in Powys used to be excellent. A combination of relatively high spending and lower traffic levels.
Now the council budget has been cut by 1/3 for the last 10 years and traffic levels have increased (relatively cheap motoring costs, high disposable incomes and crap public transport), they have gotten measurably worse.
It takes several years for potholes to become endemic, so you don't really notice at first. It also takes years to get on top of the problem. Moving freight onto rail and shopping more locally would definately help as HGV's are the biggest culprits in road damage.
I forgot to mention this in my post. What has made things worse, given the escalating nature of the headlight brightness war going on, is the lack of, missing or crap, cats-eye’s/marker posts etc and white lines on the roads. Driving at night, especially in the rain etc, is a lottery.
Some councils have adopted this as a road safety policy - if you can’t see the markings, then you’re forced to slow down. The road just a few metres from my house, which used to be the A350 had the centre line deliberately removed when cycle lanes were put along the edges to force drivers to slow down. Then the footpath was turned into a shared-use path but the road markings have remained. Or not, as the case may be.
For the last eighteen months or so I had a real problem with glare from oncoming headlights, to the extent I was forced to almost come to a standstill because I just couldn’t see the edge of the road.
Fortunately, the problem has been solved by having the cataracts in my eyes treated, which means no more glasses other than sunglasses and reading glasses! Hallelujah! 😎
Have a buckled alloy to prove just how bad they are.
A little better but noyt much but given that Westminstr hold the purse strings and stop the devolved governments actually having the money to spend on stuff
It's always someone else's fault. The Scottish government is responsible for deciding how to spend its revenue (and it receives more from central government per capita than is allocated in England btw). The SNP holds its own purse strings (strictly speaking, sporran strings). And if it wants even more money, it can raise income tax.
But somehow Westminster is still to blame for potholes in East Stirlingshire or wherever. 🙄
It's not just about the cost per head though, especially when the population is more spread out, travel costs and it's harder to have large centralised services without ignoring a large part of the population.
Take a bin collection for example, in an urban area, which much of England is, to collect the rubbish from a hundred people may only need the bin lorry to travel 50m. In a more rural area, which a lot of Wales and especially Scotland are, the bin lorry could easily travel 5-10km to collect a hundred people's rubbish. That is why a per head payment should not be like for like.
And back to roads, that is more to repair further from where people are based.
Take a bin collection for example, in an urban area, which much of England is, to collect the rubbish from a hundred people may only need the bin lorry to travel 50m. In a more rural area, which a lot of Wales and especially Scotland are, the bin lorry could easily travel 5-10km to collect a hundred people’s rubbish
This is complete and total cobblers. Bigger per head spend isn't a result of bin lorries travelling across windswept desolate moors. 🤣Practically no-one bloody lives there! Scotland is one of the most heavily urbanised countries in the world. "91% of Scotland’s population live in 2% of its land area": https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2022/91-percent-of-scotlands-population-live-in-2-percent-of-its-land-area
But to collect the bins of the other 9٪ could cost as much as it does to collect a quarter of the urban population, possibly more as this report is from England. Recurring themes are cost of travel, travel downtime and diseconomies of scale along with reduced income opportunities for authorities for regulatory duties of 50%.
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The SNP holds its own purse strings (strictly speaking, sporran strings). And if it wants even more money, it can raise income tax.
Errmmm - this is so not true. SNP tax raising powers are very limited and designed by westminster to be only able to be done in ways the SNP would not want to do
Scottish total budget is controlled by Westminster apart from a couple of % variation. the Scottish government want to spend more on roads that means cuts elsewhere
Also tax raised in Scotland is higher per head than spending - we subsidise the rest of the UK
But to collect the bins of the other 9٪ could cost as much as it does to collect a quarter of the urban population, possibly
As an example, it takes approximately 4 hours to do the bin collection for my loop of countryside, which is about 15 different dirt tracks linked and looping off a 10km stretch of road and includes approximately 100 houses.
After lunch they go into the village proper and a couple of the old housing estates and clear about 350 houses and apartments.
Also tax raised in Scotland is higher per head than spending
I assume you have a credible source for that or is it TJ wishful independance thinking?
In 2021 to 2022 spending in Scotland was £97.5 billion, tax receipts including oil revenues was £73.8 billion, so Scotland was subsidised to the tune of £23.7 billion.
Read up on the GERS figures. they are deliberately designed to understate scotlands financial position
Edit - you also need to look at this over a number of years not a one year and a bad year at that snapshot
Why would I care what the staunch mob have to say about taxation?
to collect the bins of the other 9٪ could cost as much as it does to collect a quarter of the urban population
...and yet the rural population (as percentage if total population) of England is exactly the same as Scotland - 17%.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/rural-scotland-key-facts-2021/
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rural-population-and-migration/rural-population-and-migration
Am really enjoying this narrative of Scotland needing more funding per cap because the bins are further apart.
the Scottish government want to spend more on roads that means cuts elsewhere
...in which tjagain discovers the scarcity of resources. Yeah, obviously you have to decide what you spend the money in your sporran on, and in Scotland it's the SNP (at Scottish Govt level) and councils that decide roads spending. And if you want more money in your sporran, you can raise income tax. And yet it's still Westminster's fault that Scottish roads are bad.
Is the SNP responsible for anything? Is there any problem in Scotland that isn't Westminster's fault?
Well who controls the overall budget?
That's right, Westminster. We get our "pocket money" (if you want to use a crap analogy) to spend on what we like. But that is a percentage of the overall budget as decided by the Barnet formula. No additional spending by Westminster means less pocket money. If Westminster spends more we get more. Its really not that difficult.
Why would I care what the staunch mob have to say about taxation?
Try looking at facts and methodology rather than instantly dismissing things because they upset you.
And if you want more money in your sporran, you can raise income tax
Been dun and as above the tax raising powers are a deliberately poisoned chalice. Read up on it. The levers the Scots government ( not to be confused with the SNP as the government is a coalition) have raised as much tax as they can within the allowable variations without penalising the low paid and the tax raising powers are very limited
So if you want more roads spending where do the Scots government cut? Thats the question.
BTW - the use of Sporran as you have is pretty offensive.
Oh, and to get back on topic Scotlands roads are in a shit state and have been for years. Certainly in the wetter parts of the country at any rate.
Turns out a minimum of 60 profile tyres equals comfort and even then you still end up getting the occasional shock. I wouldn't consider 45s particularly low profile but they are noticeably worse and still outside the instant shredding zone (I do however spec XL sidewalls).
Oh and whoever suggested a maximum £100 claim, I hope you put your money where your mouth is if you ever need to claim. I assume that applies to bikes as well since I'm sure any council claims officer would.
Try looking at facts and methodology rather than instantly dismissing things because they upset you.
I think that joke went over your head - or maybe it just wasn't funny. 🤷♂️
We get our “pocket money”... to spend on what we like...If Westminster spends more we get more. Its really not that difficult.
Yeah, exactly. Scottish legislators decide how to spend the money allocated to them - which by the way is more per capita than is allocated to England. This is just like anyone else in the world that has a limited budget. No-one has infinite money. But the good news is that if the Scottish Parliament wanted even more money for thr government, it could raise income tax at the national level and council tax at a local level.
But still, iT's wEsTmInStEr's FaUlT...
Its been explained to you why the tax raising powers cannot be used like you think they can. I think you really need to read up on it
Anyway - this is not the thread for this
BTW – the use of Sporran as you have is pretty offensive.
Sporran just means "purse" in Gaelic. And tbh I (a Scottish person) am not going to be lectured on this point.
Well as one Scot to another give the shortbread tin shite a rest.
Anyway, you're clearly just agitating as you've had the reasons why your argument is pish pointed out to you but still persist. I'm done.
Hiya,
During the referendum I was educated to the fact that the reason euro roads are so good is that we paid for them.
Amazingly that doesn’t seem to have been true.
Along with hospital queues our roads are the most potent signs that Tories are horrible , useless ****.
That's because Toy's are the "muddle management", that you have to deal with in most companies. They don't fix issues, that's for the guys they subbed it out to, so they don't have to get their hands dirty ;-(
Where I live a road was completely replaced and perfect. The first question to a local tory Councillor was, which one of you live on the road?
In fairness my road gravel bike route I have mastered my bunny hops over most of the gaping holes.
BR
JeZ
…and yet the rural population (as percentage if total population) of England is exactly the same as Scotland – 17%.
Need to be very careful using definitions as vague as that.
I'm in a rural location, but there are 50-60 houses within 2km as the crow flies. (One of them is an ~8km drive to get to, but that's not the point.)
My in laws old place was also rural, they only had 3 houses within 2km (and maybe 30 houses within ~5km) and that property density was applicable for something like 25km in 3 directions.
Both rural, but completely different levels of work to provide services.
Just have to look at population density maps to see the difference.
Population density
Just have to look at population density maps to see the difference.
Well, yeah - it shows that the Scottish population is highly concentrated into a small geographic area. The idea that government spending in Scotland needs to be higher than in the rest of the UK because "the population is more spread out" is rubbish.
Our council must have invested in an inappropriately sized surfacing machine, as any road that requires resurfacing needs to closed in both directions for weeks on end. The ill thought out diversion routes then disintegrate.
Or road was due to be resurfaced and as local business couldn’t cope with a full road closure the council just said ‘it can’t be done because of health and safety’ and cancelled the resurfacing job. Maybe if you had invested in the right equipment for the size of UK roads…
I find it strange that with all the terrible stuff happening in the world, potholes seem to cause such anguish to so many
Well, I gave my clubmate CPR and watched him die in front of me when he went over the bars having hit a pothole. The settlement was more than Surrey Council’s total budget for fixing potholes - that was their three year budget. Killing financial directors by poor road maintenance is a false economy. Or not? It’s not just punctures and alloy wheels.
The idea that government spending in Scotland needs to be higher than in the rest of the UK because “the population is more spread out” is rubbish.
Better tell that to every post war UK government that you know better. have you ever actually been to the highlands?
The idea that government spending in Scotland needs to be higher than in the rest of the UK because “the population is more spread out” is rubbish.
Anyway, you’re clearly just agitating as you’ve had the reasons why your argument is pish pointed out to you but still persist. I’m done.
Robola, do you have any experience in highways repairs, or construction in general?
Edit.
Sorry, should probably add that I do and there is likely a very valid reason for requiring a full closure for highway repairs.
Robola, do you have any experience in highways repairs, or construction in general?
Do I need to? Similar sized roads routinely resurfaced with one side at a time closed, traffic lights etc. Pretty simple observation that it used to be possible, (and still is in other areas) now all of a sudden full closure required.