Councillors have agreed to urgent resurfacing works for the county borough’s roads and pavements.
Caerphilly County Borough Council said “prudent financial management” of Welsh Government funding meant more money was available.
The council’s highways department will spent £1.6m on road resurfacing and £771,586 on pavements.
Work will also upgrade 525 street lamps with modern LED lanterns.
Members of the council’s Cabinet rubber-stamped the allocation of funding during their meeting on Wednesday June 18.
Cllr Tom Williams, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transportation and Engineering, said: “Careful financial management has allowed us to maximise every penny of this Welsh Government funding, and it is pleasing that we are able to propose further improvements to our carriageways and highways as a result of these savings.”
Don’t use the same team of cowboys who resurfaced one of the roads here in Machen, it’s only been down a few months and is already breaking up in large chunks, the road now looks worse than it did before they resurfaced it, the whole job is an appalling mess that the council have wasted money on…..it certainly wasn’t careful management of council finances, a total waste of money more like.
Adding to Paul’s comment I hope the resurfacing won’t involve putting stones down and allowing cars to level them out. Tarmac and a steamroller gives a far superior road surface.
£2m is a small amount? For most companies it would fund a great deal of work but we are talking about CCBC. By the time you factor in the managers to manage the project, site managers, HSE managers, workmen who drag the job out, equipment, materials, after studies, consultation, dithering done by councillors to criticise the work and finally another manager to manage the first manager and everything else, the £2m may just about do a 10m stretch of road.
What they threw down in Machen was some sort of cheap new tarmac, the contractors simply swept the road then chucked it down on top of the old surface, trouble is that it does not set underneath and is effectively a floating road surface which is now coming up in large chunks as the recent warm weather has made the road surface soft again….if this is what Caerphilly Council are proposing to use then it is a total waste of money.
That’s the one, Paul. It has been used where I live too. Every new road in Caerphilly that has been recently resurfaced seems to use that stuff.
What happened to the old fashioned way?
I believe that this sort of surface dressing, where a bituminous substance has chippings added on top, has become the standard with the council. Probably because it is cheap. I am with Dean and Paul, I don’t like it.
No it’s not tar and chippings, this is a completely new form of tarmac / ashfelt , I can’t remember what it is called, they pour it straight onto the existing road surface and then drive a roller over it. Trouble is that underneath doesn’t set so never sticks to the old surface and is like a floating road, similar to laying a laminate floor in a house, this new surface is now breaking up and pealing away from the old road surface. The whole road looks dreadful, if Caerphilly Council are going to use this new method on the rest of Caerphilly they are simply wasting their money, and if this new surface is coming to your road beware as it is complete and utter rubbish.
Sounds like a complete waste of time and our money. I don’t claim to have any knowledge of repairing road surfaces, but surely asphalt needs to have the existing road scored in some way? Otherwise there is no ‘key’ for the stuff to adhere to the road properly. I will try and get hold of someone in the Highways Dept. to explain what is being done.
The council inspected the road after it was resurfaced and claimed to be satisfied with the result, every resident in the street has complained about the awful mess the contractors have made of the road but they nevertheless have probably been paid by the council – I know this is detracting from the original news item but if Caerphilly council are intending to continue with this new method of road resurfacing work throughout Caerphilly they need to come and see what it is like after just a few months of traffic use, the condition of our road I’m not that bothered about it’s the council wasting money that bothers me more and although I to am no expert this type of resurfacing seems a total waste of money.
Paul is on about something different again. I’m with you on this one, I do mane the one you described. If they put a roller after it the problems would be lessened but as it stands the cars throw it all back up again. It chips windscreens and scratches paint. If you could speak to highways, that would be fantastic.
I spoke to a, very helpful, man from the Highways Dept. who gave me information on the three systems the council use. The first system is the full restoration where the road is planed, or scored, and a new surface laid. The second is surface dressing, this is the one where loose chippings are around, on the road surface, until they are swept up.
The third method, I think this is the one Paul refers to, is ‘Micro Aspalt’ where a mixture of aggregate and bitumen is poured on and flattened with a rubber tyred roller. The road surface is then opened to traffic which wears it in before it is swept and road markings added.
All three methods have been in use for some time and decision making on what method to use is based on road condition, traffic and cost. I checked out examples of the Micro Asphalt method in, or near to, the town and the results ranged from good to scruffy. To my, layman’s, eye it appears that this treatment is suitable for some roads but not others.
Yes it is Micro Asphalt ( I couldn’t remember the correct name for it) and yes I would agree that it is suitable for some roads and not others, I don’t think it was suitable for our road hence the poor condition it is already in now, though the contractors did a really poor job to start with which hasn’t helped, hopefully the council will spend their £1.6m wisely and Caerphilly will have some nice flat smooth roads for us all to drive on.
there is no HSE