Councils say the money is a "significant boost" but call for longer term funding to repair roads.
It’s almost like car infrastructure has dogshit durability and longevity and is a massive money sink compared to more efficient transportation infrastructures!
I’m old enough to remember when the roads were fixed as routine maintenance, rather than using infrastructure money for a quick bodge just before an election.
My hometown in the US still does it like that! And they’re stunningly efficient. There was one time we had to go around an enormous detour because the biggest road in town was being redone in like a 2 mile stretch. They did the entire thing overnight in one giant marching construction worker swarm. A few towns over from us did something similar earlier this year but with their local stretch of highway. It was maybe a 15 mile redo all at once took just a few days (they did one lane traffic on one side than the other for that one, small highways). Compare that to where I’m at in Seattle right now Madison has been fucked for like 2 years and I swear none of the roads have actually been resurfaced it is just one construction patch after another when like a pipe needs fixed or something.
Pretty sure they built the transcontinental railroad in the time it took my city to add one 2-3 mile auxiliary lane to the side of a road with 2 pre-existing lanes in the same direction and an existing hard shoulder.
Mentioned in the other response construction was overnight and they kept it blocked a couple days after to set up. Very short turnaround though. The only other times I’ve seen so many construction workers on one site is people building towers in Seattle so it was a little shocking to see in a town of 25k people. But also explained why sometimes I would be gone for a weekend and come back to new roads. One of the things is the roads there get obliterated quickly. The winters are somewhat harsh, it is a farming town so lots of big equipment chewing them up, and right on a main highway that people use to get into Washington. They have to be redone often and I think the area has just enough funding and experience to be on top of it.
I hear it takes weeks to do properly. I’m not a road building expert, but there are many things that go into it, and stuff needs to cool of and consolidate.
To clarify the construction was all done overnight but it hardened/set up for a couple days after and they kept it blocked. Definitely wasn’t weeks though it was like 3 days for people to start driving on it.
I’m old enough to remember when the roads were fixed as routine maintenance, rather than using infrastructure money for a quick bodge just before an election.
My hometown in the US still does it like that! And they’re stunningly efficient. There was one time we had to go around an enormous detour because the biggest road in town was being redone in like a 2 mile stretch. They did the entire thing overnight in one giant marching construction worker swarm. A few towns over from us did something similar earlier this year but with their local stretch of highway. It was maybe a 15 mile redo all at once took just a few days (they did one lane traffic on one side than the other for that one, small highways). Compare that to where I’m at in Seattle right now Madison has been fucked for like 2 years and I swear none of the roads have actually been resurfaced it is just one construction patch after another when like a pipe needs fixed or something.
Pretty sure they built the transcontinental railroad in the time it took my city to add one 2-3 mile auxiliary lane to the side of a road with 2 pre-existing lanes in the same direction and an existing hard shoulder.
OVERNIGHT? My town does whole stretches of road, usually one each year. Takes weeks.
Mentioned in the other response construction was overnight and they kept it blocked a couple days after to set up. Very short turnaround though. The only other times I’ve seen so many construction workers on one site is people building towers in Seattle so it was a little shocking to see in a town of 25k people. But also explained why sometimes I would be gone for a weekend and come back to new roads. One of the things is the roads there get obliterated quickly. The winters are somewhat harsh, it is a farming town so lots of big equipment chewing them up, and right on a main highway that people use to get into Washington. They have to be redone often and I think the area has just enough funding and experience to be on top of it.
I hear it takes weeks to do properly. I’m not a road building expert, but there are many things that go into it, and stuff needs to cool of and consolidate.
To clarify the construction was all done overnight but it hardened/set up for a couple days after and they kept it blocked. Definitely wasn’t weeks though it was like 3 days for people to start driving on it.