They are doing a lot of road resurfacing in my area and replacing the surface with that lovely quiet material thats joy to drive on only it's a shame that they adopt a piecemeal system a bit here and a bit there.
Imagine how pleasent a lengthy journey would be if the entire road was surfaced with it.
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Also I wonder (techy question here) if these road surfaces are easier on the fuel consumption?.
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A lot of the M65 that goes from Preston up to Colne has been covered with this, it is an enviromental thing because of the wild life in this area, and whenever a surface is relaid it will be with this, good idea you can tell the difference but whether it helps in fuel economy i dont know.
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Sombrueil - am I correct in thinking that you live near me (Chorley)?
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Know exactly what you mean about road surfaces. I can't remember where it is (or was) but there's a section of motorway somewhere, possibly the M53, that has such a dreadful surface it's untrue. One minute, you're bowling along nice and quietly, the next it sounds like there's a squadron of fighter jets overhead. Why bother to put down a surface like that? If it's noisy in the car, how noisy must it be for the poor blighters that live nearby? Hang on, it may be the A12. All I know is that it was flat and road shaped ;-)
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Could it be that section of the M1 in Northants? Noisiest bit of road in the world! How come the froggies can have such "quiet" motorway surfaces - and the Germans and Austrians come to that. I expect its's because we are cheapskates, after all we wouldn't want to spend any of that £40 billion of road users taxes would we? Mind you, at least the motorways aren't resurfaced by pouring a bit of tar on and then a few million chippings like all the roads near here. Doesn't make them any smoother, just removes paint from front of cars.
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Could it be possible also that the smooth silent surface might encourage drivers to drive faster than they would normaly, I have no idea myself, just a thought.
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(Omly half in jest) maybe it's a measure to make sure you don't doze off, like rumble strips etc.
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Are these smoother surfaces safer? Less friction, bigger stopping distances etc?
Splodgeface
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Can anyone give any technical gen on alternative surfaces. Thinking of variations on ashphalt/tarmac rather than the hideous brushed concrete. There is (was?) a section of the M6N, north of the A65 junction towards Shap, surfaced with something exceptionally quiet and a roadside sign announcing at as an experimental Hanson product. Unfortunately i always seem to end up driving that section while SWMBO slumbers so never read it!!!
French surface IIRC is porous to improve drainage.
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I came southbound on that strech yesterday, but I did notice that some of the resurfaced bits around Penrith and on Kirkstone Pass were very quiet, as are the bits of the A65 just outside Bradford Council's reach.
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Only some french surfaces. The A13 from PAris to Nantes is not porous, neither are there cats eyes or reflective road markings. One dark, very very rainy night the standing water made it vitually impossible to see the road surface with dipped beams, needless to say, it was lethal. At least inthis country catseyes are ubiquitous.
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Yes Rob the bus, i dont live too far away from you, i can either go shopping in Chorley, Bolton or Wigan, but i am on the road that much there is always a shopping centre near where i travel.And they all look the same, boring architecture makes you want to doze off.
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>>Could it be that section of the M1 in Northants? Noisiest bit of road in the world!
You obviously havn't driven on the M74 south from Hamilton. You get approximately 20 miles of concrete road that is deafening. And it's only 2 lane motorway!
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You obviously havn't driven on the M74 south from Hamilton. You get approximately 20 miles of concrete road that is deafening. And it's only 2 lane motorway!
Yes! That's it! That's the bit of road I was wittering on about in my earlier post. Thanks, Wally. Believe or not, that had been bugging me for ages. Dreadful bit of road, isn't it?
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Rob,
I think you might have been thinking of the bit of the A12 near Brentwood/Ingatestone, heading for Chelmsford.
Now resurfaced and quiet - same stupid driving though.
Matt35.
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Matt - that bit of road did used to be terrible. I used to go to Colchester Institute in Clacton, so traversed the A12 regularly. Like I said in one of my previous posts, it really did sound like you had a Harrier strapped to the roof! Glad to hear it's been resurfaced. The M74 as mentioned above is terrible too - I look forward to the moment that I reach that bit of road all the way up the M6!!
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I believe that the first bit of this \"new\" surface was on the Bentley by-pass in Hampshire (A31).
They had problems with ice and indeed I think that 2 people were killed. What happens is that the road allows water to run beneath the actual road surface (that is why there is very little spray) but unfortunately someone did not take into account that ice is 9% \"bigger\" than water. So when it froze the whole surfae was covered in ice. I think that the council thought that these roads never really needed to be salted - so they didn\'t - with tragic consequences.
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Whatever the surface it won't last long before someone gets the urge to dig it up to lay cables, pipes, drains, etc.
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I think the stuff we are talking about is called porous asphalt. Water is indeed intended to drain through the surface rather than off it, so in theory providing more grip. I've read somewhere than the 'pores' in the material tend to clog up with dust, grit, etc and so the advantage is lost. Another reason for using it is that it is much quieter outside the car, with much less tyre roar for local residents. Having once lived about 3 miles from the M4 in an otherwise peaceful rural area, reducing the constant noise in the background would be great.
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