this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Think potholes on our roads are getting worse? You're right – and here's why (theconversation.com)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

[Roads] are getting worse because we’re not spending enough to maintain them.

Three-quarters of our roads are managed by local councils.

Every year, those councils spend A$1 billion less on maintenance than is needed to keep those roads in their current condition – let alone improve them.

New Grattan Institute research finds the typical regional area has a funding shortfall of more 40%. In remote areas, it’s more than 75%.

One reason for this underspend is that untied federal government grants to local councils haven’t kept pace with soaring costs.

[...]

Tight budgets make it tempting to delay maintenance.

But delaying will only end up costing more in the long run, leaving taxpayers paying more to fix more badly damaged roads.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

Also cars and trucks are getting heavier. Damage to the road scales exponentially with the weight of the vehicle. https://streets.mn/2016/07/07/chart-of-the-day-vehicle-weight-vs-road-damage-levels/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Are potholes actually repairable? Or is it shonky repair work? Because I swear there are some that reappear whenever there is the slightest rain.

What pisses me off more is that when a road is repaved, you can guarantee that some utility or other will be digging it up within 5 minutes, leaving patches and lines criss-crossing it and so uneven that the jarring bumps set off my dashcam collision event recording.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If the road had a decent foundation to start with, potholes shouldn’t form at all.

If the foundation of the road has been compromised, patching a pothole will not prevent it from coming back.

Road construction tenders in the late 1990s, early 2000s were very competitive so there are a lot of roads built during this period that were built on a shoestring with no repair clauses. (ie. shit)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Road construction tenders in the late 1990s, early 2000s were very competitive so there are a lot of roads built during this period that were built on a shoestring with no repair clauses. (ie. shit)

What‽ But we were told more competition would lead to higher quality at a lower price!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Typically a memorandum goes into place after paving. Cities will send letters out to utilities to do work now before they pave through.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

And yet, inevitably, a couple of weeks after the roax is laid, someone wi be digging it up...