Roadworks Done and Planned. "Sorry for the Inconvenience - but it's better than Potholes!"
Originally published by Nick Hollinghurst - promoting social democracy as a Liberal Democrat and working for a greener world!
With winter on it's way there is a flurry of activity on the roads in and around Tring at the moment. Most of it involves what highways folk refer to as "patching". Pothole repair consists of temporary filling in with soft material - a "quick fix" if you like - though the contractors are not always quick to get there! In addition these temporay patches oftren have to be done again 2 or three times.
The longer term solution is "patching" where rectangular sections of the roadway are cut out down to a depth of a foot or more and then backfilled with a strong mix of tarmac and the edges sealed against the weather. This is often preparation work for later surface dressing the following summer.
So far Fox Road and Vicarage Road, both in Wigginton, have been patched and suface dressing is scheduled for next year. Other roads to be patched are Chesham Road, Wick Road and Bottom House Lane, also in Wigginton.
Not part of routine work scheduled by the contractor was the patching work recently carried out in Brook Street in Tring. This was additional work specifically requested by County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst.
One important section that has been missed out yet again is the patching and levelling of a stretch of Longbridge Close at the junction with Icknield Way. Nick Hollinghurst was down there on Thursday with an engineer to complain again on behalf of the residents. Marks on the road were noted and he awaits some news - hopefully that that work will be included with the other patching.
Finally a word of warning. There has been water leaking from a fire hydrant by Cow Lane Farm for several months. It is the responsibility of the water, drainage and sewerage company Thames Water and they are planning to carry out repair work next week. However the water running down the road continuously has damaged the highway very badly at five places adjacent to the gutter. This has resulted in potholes, one of which is especially deep and sharp. Please take care to avoid it if you can.
The highway contractor has been informed and an engineer was down there with Nick on Thursday taking photographs and measurements.
The patching work will cause a certain amount of disruption, but as Cllr Nick Hollinghurst says, "Sorry for the inconvenience - but it's better than potholes!"