Thursday, February 2, 2012

My 2c worth

I have been in Adelaide these past few days and this time I was driving. Amongst other things I needed to take my classic Citroen there for some specialist work.

And what a shemozzle it is driving around the place - I usually write about how bad it is after I have left and today is no different. I won't link to previous posts - but if you are interested enough you will find them in my blog.

I have lots of complaints about the place but my biggest is that the road network is a joke. Various state governments - Liberal and Labor have neglected SA road infrastructure for decades - I reckon it is probably more than 40 years.

By neglected I mean that there has *never* been a comprehensive investment plan to make the road network usable and safe.

Of course there has been the odd headline project that gets announced by the Premier and presented by the talking heads in the local media - all designed to calm the locals down for a while. Big expensive, gold plated, taxpayer funded projects that treat a minor problem and take years to complete - mostly useless window dressing. A bit like our submarines.

Maybe it works with the locals but it doesn't work with me - or indeed many of my friends and colleagues. I left the place today thinking that I don't ever want to drive there again - because the road system is so unsafe.

So what do I mean by unsafe?

I don't have enough space or time to detail all the problems - there are many. So I will focus on one.

Many of the major roads have badly misaligned surfaces because there are *sunken* manhole covers everywhere. Sunken manhole covers result either from a poorly re-surfaced road or a manhole that has subsided over time. In any event there are thousands of them - everywhere. By sunken I mean where the manhole cover is more than 25mm below the surrounding road surface. I measured a few and some of those are *more than* 50mm below the surrounding surface.

What does that do to your vehicle when you run over it? How does it affect your steering and suspension and ability to control your vehicle when you hit it? What if you happen to be riding a bike?

But don't take my word for it - go for a drive around the place and see what you think. Try the main road from North Adelaide to Gepps Cross for a real experience. And then write to your local MP to complain.

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