dfnt: Look forward to them topping up the rock chips 👍🏻

and that will last another 3 weeks.

its not a hugely busy corner but does have a 30 min frequency bus route though there.

What's the bet the slip lane never gets built.. It was pretty much deemed essential by NZTA last year to avoid issues with the merge at Linden, but the precedent is pretty much there for things never actually being done if they're not done at the time.

It reminds me very much of the Wgtn city bypass which was built as an overground road rather than a cut and cover underground bypass. It didn't take a high trained traffic engineer to know that simply wouldn't work when it has to cross 4 major cross city local roads, and we've learned that in the 13 or so years since it was built. The cost to actually put this underground at the time was going to be something like $20 million more - now they're looking at a $1 billion bypass to tunnel under the city. Converting the existing road to a cut and cover tunnel is simply impossible now it's been built.

NZTA seem to be completely incompetent, and never held accountable, so, you know, they just carry on overpaying for poor work and collecting their paycheck. Yet another government/council body paying exorbitant packages (I think the NZTA CEO is on like $680k?) for consistently poor outcomes for the taxpayer.

Christchurch has a nice new four lane motorway going south to Rolleston, but some d###head decided to combine the two south lanes into a single lane for 100m just before entering Rolleston. Traffic jam every evening.

dfnt: Yep, I don’t understand the logic behind using chip seal when they constantly have to repair it vs asphalt

Then it constantly looks like it’s in a state of disrepair which is why it’s hard to determine if it was laid weeks or years ago

From what I understood, they usually lay chip seal first as a base, leave it for a few months to bed in and then apply asphalt on top. 

in Dunedin every end of financial year the roading maintenance contractor dumps f&^% loose gravel tinted with tar all over Dunedin roads for no apparent reason. it's not to fix anything it's not to seal anything.

i called up the mate who works there and he says it's so they can max out the budget so they get the same budget for next year.

i complained to the council but it goes into a black hole

anyone have a better explanation for this car damaging annual exercise?

Batman:

 

in Dunedin every end of financial year the roading maintenance contractor dumps f&^% loose gravel tinted with tar all over Dunedin roads for no apparent reason. it's not to fix anything it's not to seal anything.

 

i called up the mate who works there and he says it's so they can max out the budget so they get the same budget for next year.

 

i complained to the council but it goes into a black hole

 

anyone have a better explanation for this car damaging annual exercise?

 

If your car is being damaged then I believe you can lay a claim to be reimbursed for the likes of paint chips, tar splashes and tyre damage - just not window damage. If they won't listen to complaints then make it cost them money - unfortunately that's often the only way to get companies to listen.

dfnt: Yep, I don’t understand the logic behind using chip seal when they constantly have to repair it vs asphalt

Then it constantly looks like it’s in a state of disrepair which is why it’s hard to determine if it was laid weeks or years ago

From reading this PCC council paper it appears to come down to money, being too lazy to change and not giving a &*^% that it rips up after a couple of weeks. 

Interesting that sub-division developers lay asphalt though.  I'm guessing that's mandated, or possibly they couldn't demand as a high price for the properties if the new roads were chip-seal.

floydbloke:

 

dfnt: Yep, I don’t understand the logic behind using chip seal when they constantly have to repair it vs asphalt

Then it constantly looks like it’s in a state of disrepair which is why it’s hard to determine if it was laid weeks or years ago

 

From reading this PCC council paper it appears to come down to money, being too lazy to change and not giving a &*^% that it rips up after a couple of weeks. 

 

Interesting that sub-division developers lay asphalt though.  I'm guessing that's mandated, or possibly they couldn't demand as a high price for the properties if the new roads were chip-seal.

 

Bingo, developers want asphalt because it sells.  Councils are genearlly happy with chipseals as its easier for them to maintain to that level once the asphalt wears out in 15 years but once laid it becomes hard to change without excessive complaints!

Benoire:

 

Not necessarily.  Chipseal is on average 4 times cheaper than ashpalt with 1/2 the design life.  As long as the road pavement underneath is sound and putting 0 shear on the formation (foundations of the road) from the axle loads then generally chipseal is a more cost effective surface

Chipseal has 1/2 the design life of hotmix if it's done right.

A few years ago , two major suburban roads in Paraparaumu were re-sealed in chipseal.
Piles of chips formed along the road edges, and then the Council was inundated with completely justifiable complaints about paint chips,wrecked gardens, expensive driveways littered with chips & tar, footpaths being too dangerous for children or Mums with pushchairs, etc.
After a few weeks, the contractor re-sealed the whole lot, with little more success than their first catastrophe.
Eventually, the whole lot - kilometres of it - was dug up and redone in hotmix

Obraik:

 

dfnt: Yep, I don’t understand the logic behind using chip seal when they constantly have to repair it vs asphalt

Then it constantly looks like it’s in a state of disrepair which is why it’s hard to determine if it was laid weeks or years ago

 

From what I understood, they usually lay chip seal first as a base, leave it for a few months to bed in and then apply asphalt on top. 

 

sometimes, this chip seal is the same height as the assault so no way will they be laying anything on top. and last time they did asphalt they ground away about 40mm of the road surface so they could it it in.

They do what you say on new roads though.

Handle9:

 

It didn't really matter who delivered it, the project would have been a relative failure. 

 

The point was that the Ministry of Works wasn't infallibale - far from it. Large, complex infrastructure projects all around the world routinely go significantly over budget and time.

 

The delivery model is almost immaterial in predicting this.

 

Yup 100% correct - and I say this as someone with just shy of 30 years exp in delivering infrastructure projects.