Penyrheol councillor Steve Skivens has recently highlighted the potholes crisis impacting roads across Caerphilly County.
In this article, Steve looks at what needs to happen in the future.
I recently highlighted the deteriorating road conditions in my ward areas caused by potholes. With a case study on the short road to Groeswen village with over 50 potholes in a mile and repairs after repairs becoming ineffective. Additionally, in many areas road repairs are often unsatisfactory in method and further repairs are required by local authorities.
This story rages on with other parts of Wales reporting bad conditions even on motorways and Arterial A roads with damage and accidents created.
But are we missing the point in this debate is the cause and solution there if we take a step back from the continuous repair cycle. Costing millions in my area and many millions across Wales.
- Is the cause change to our climate with far more frequent storms?
- Is it traffic volumes and increased journeys in private vehicles due to no or limited public transport options?
- Is it the cutbacks evident in road resurfacing and maintenance programs by local authorities?
- Is it the standard of repairs and methods employed?
- Is it increased building and development hardening up ground surfaces particularly on Greenfield sites; not only increasing road traffic but also moving storm water faster into receptors churning up roadways and pavements?
We cannot afford to maintain the current status quo with many millions spent on emergency repairs, external contractors, repairs on the repairs and claims for vehicle and personal injuries or damage as a result of these poor road conditions. The whole situation seems to be spiralling down to a situation where some roads may be abandoned and becom impassable.
Local authorities and the Welsh Government must take a step back from this cycle and look again. Look at their Local Development Plans, infrastructure developments, maintenance and re-surfacing programs as opposed to continuous repairs, look at machinery for effective repairs when required, share equipment and knowledge across areas, check on the standards and methods of repair by external contractors and their own direct labour force.
Increase climate change control measures and access to public transport options. For example, simple decisions on reducing support to school transport puts 100,000s of extra road journeys across Wales every day and has an unwitting consequence further down the road.
We can put rockets to the edge of our galaxy and land on several planets often involving Welsh technology, but we can’t fix potholes!
I’m sure we can fill in these gaps!