[Closed] Road repairs - Japanese style

Ha!
We had a burst water main just down the road from us, 2 months after the road had been resurfaced. The burst lifted the pavement and road by 4" in places, its now settled down to leave the road with the texture of a pimply youth's face. This was in August and they havent touched it since.

I would imagine between earthquakes and tsunami, the Japanese have had lots of practice at this sort of disaster recovery thing. A large hole in the road is probably nowt by comparison.

Bloody hell, that's quick! It's taken over a year to make a minor adjustment to a roundabout near me, still not done either.

I'm quite surprised - its easy to grout a hole like that if you've got enough material, but the undermining of those tall buildings adjacent would concern me "somewhat".
A few years ago I was involved in a project where we looked at the risk of breaking a c600mm high pressure water main in a large city. It was quite disturbing. Potentially involving buildings beginning to fall into the hole within 30 minutes or so.

Piece of cake. Big can of this: [img] [/img]

Meanwhile in St.Albans

http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/st_albans_sinkhole_resident_i_feel_safe_from_any_further_incidents_1_4726793

They maybe able to move back into their bungalows (15months later) this Xmas !!

Anything is achievable with the right amount of resources.
Over here it appears that roadworks are poorly managed*, with small numbers of workers who seem to take it in turns to do a bit of work. I was sat in traffic the other day watching a guy in an excavator back filling a long trench. He would tip his hardcore in the hole, then 1 guy with a broom would brush any overspill back into the trench , whilst two other guys with brooms watched him. The guy in the excavator would wait until he finished , then would then repeat his bit, then a different guy with a broom would do his bit , whilst the other two watched. Are these jobs paid to the contractor on an hourly basis ? If I was tasked with that job, I would have the excavator continually filling, with a guy either side of the trench brushing in.Job would be done in half the time, then I would get my resources on the next task.

* there may be good reason for all this. I can't see it though

The 'smart motorway' works on various major transport arteries springs to mind. I'm sure there are at least five or six people* toiling non-stop on it at any one time, but it never looks like it as you sit in the queue. Have they finished the bit on the M1 south of Leeds yet?

And yet it still costs £5m to £15m per mile - plus whatever cost to the economy of a couple of years of non-stop roadworks.

I'd be interested to see whether the actual costs of increasing workforce and speeding up the job at these sites are equivalent the unmeasured costs of perma-roadworks.

*Alright, perhaps at least a dozen or so.

I'm going to go with a Daily Fail type 'alternative' Headline.

"Cheap Foreign made road collapses with HUGE hole, given a quick repair. Lady Di unavailable for comment, house prices effected, cancer caused/cured".

Meanwhile in St Albans

& also meanwhile in Ripon, North Yorkshire...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/10/seven-houses-evacuated-in-ripon-after-huge-sinkhole-appears

and they can't fill potholes in Edinburgh

I suppose in this country we have the man eating traffic cone problem, it can be the only explanation why the roadworks are always devoid of workers

I don't understand the comparison to potholes

2 days to fill a hole with type 1 and tarmac? Compaction? Services? about 2 years of repairing the services and resurfacing as it sinks. Kicked the can down the, newly repaired, road.

Day and night see. It's all that night time noise that the neighbours won't like. Can only get it done during the day and without any noise. Can't use trucks see, it'll have to be wheelbarrowed in from up the road and compacted by foot after every inch or so has been laid 'coz him at No 22 works nights. Have to wait for Mrs Johnson at No 26 to get the washing in before the smelly asphalt can be put down. Sorry No81 has the washing out now, and now it's number bloody 33!!
Etc,etc.

I don't understand the comparison to potholes

Me neither tbh, unless a sink hole opens up at a major intersection in London its not really comparable.

I live on a nice, quiet suburban road. There is a small Spring near the top of the road that breaks the surface up in various places. Rather than giving this spring a drain under the road to drain into they simply repair two or three potholes a year.

Ten years so far and despite repeated suggestions I am still waiting

17 posts in and no one has mentioned Godzilla, sometimes I despair at this place..

We had a hole about 2 feet across and maybe 5 feet deep appear in the road round the corner, some random sinkhole, it took longer for the council to put a fence round it than this took the Japanese...

2 days to repair, 1 week to open. 😕

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-36659582 ]4 days. [/url]