| Kent
County Council are at long last putting into operation a massive
project to repair some of the worst pothole-plagued roads in Kent,
as the County is handed £8.6million by the Government. This
is part of the money of a massive amount of £200 million handed
out to Councils across the country by Chancellor George Osborne
since the recent budget, in repairing the disgraceful and dangerous
roads across Britain! |
|
| The
day in, day out rainfall across the county throughout December,
January and February resulted in widespread flooding and left the
county’s roads in a sorry, dangerous state of urgent repair,
by the colossal amount rainwater that fell, as well as damage caused
by fallen trees damaging roads severely. Some of the worst hit areas
were Yalding, Tonbridge, Maidstone and villages near Canterbury,
in which thousands of homes are still going through a drying out
process then costly repairs, that will take months to finally resolve. |
|
Over
40 highways crews have been out on the roads of Kent filling the
potholes, sometimes at the rate of more than 1,000 a week. It
is estimated that each pothole cost the council in excess of £100
per pothole. Council officials aim to send the crews out to repair
problems within 28 days of them being found and reported, although
they do say that dangerous faults hoped to be fixed within two
hours!After many months of complaints and severe criticism by
residents who drive cars, ride motorcycles and bicycles in the
towns of Kent, and debates by council officials, it seems at long
last that these major problems will be resolved, as many holes
in the roads have damaged cars and have caused major costs in
repair work through their insurance companies.
|
|
With
the huge volume of traffic increasing every year, including heavy
goods vehicles, which weigh many tons, all cause severe damage to
the surface of roads, mainly due to the vehicles breaking the roads
tarmac edging away, leaving huge patches and pot-holes – some
centimetres deep - which are a serious threat to all road users. |
| Residents
across the county have explained the very dangerous situations that
they have faced when riding either their bikes or motorcycles along
some of these roads, some have had to take immediate evasive action
when a deep pot-hole or the kerbside edging has suddenly come into
view, they try to negotiate their way around it by swerving to avoid
being thrown off, this in itself is dangerous enough, but cars following
close behind them have also had to take drastic action, to avoid
a possible fatal accident by hitting the unsuspecting rider in front.They
expressed their views by saying said that “they can't wait
until these roads have been repaired, then they can then ride safely,
without the fear of deep pot-holes throwing them off and causing
serious injury”. For them it was good news that was welcomed...”At
long last” |
Work
has now begun to resurface and improve some of the roads which are
in need of urgent repair first. These projects will cause traffic
delays and disruption in the areas concerned, but diversion signs
will be in place to avoid them, For those of us all who use the
roads in Kent, all agree, that it will certainly be less dangerous
once the road repairs have been completed.
|
|
