Farewell potholes? UK team invents self-healing road surface

Post by youngtaff » Sat, Feb 08, 2025, 4:09 PM UTC

rich_sasha wrote: post #50

Reason077 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ”People would notice very quickly if their bins weren't being collected.” This was a constant problem at my London council. They collected our rubbish bin reliably, but never our council-supplied recycling bin. Eventually we found out that the rules had changed and recycling had to be put in specially marked clear plastic bags, but the bags were almost impossible to get. You literally had to go to the local library…

In a similar vein: it turns out councils are only liable for pothole-related damage if they know about the pothole - i.e. if it was reported or they found it themselves. Maybe fair enough. But the county of Gloucestershire fixed the issue by ceasing all pothole inspections. If they don't know about them, they aren't liable. On this basis, they reject 97% of all claims.

Post by DevelopingElk » Sat, Feb 08, 2025, 4:44 PM UTC

UberFly wrote: post #39

"To make the self-healing bitumen, the researchers mixed in tiny porous plant spores soaked in recycled oils. When the road surface is compressed by passing traffic, it squeezes the spores, which release their oil into any nearby cracks. The oils soften the bitumen enough for it to flow and seal the cracks." Are we really buying this?

Post by flir » Sat, Feb 08, 2025, 5:59 PM UTC

rich_sasha wrote: post #50

Reason077 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ”People would notice very quickly if their bins weren't being collected.” This was a constant problem at my London council. They collected our rubbish bin reliably, but never our council-supplied recycling bin. Eventually we found out that the rules had changed and recycling had to be put in specially marked clear plastic bags, but the bags were almost impossible to get. You literally had to go to the local library…

In a similar vein: it turns out councils are only liable for pothole-related damage if they know about the pothole - i.e. if it was reported or they found it themselves. Maybe fair enough. But the county of Gloucestershire fixed the issue by ceasing all pothole inspections. If they don't know about them, they aren't liable. On this basis, they reject 97% of all claims.

Post by dieselgate » Sat, Feb 08, 2025, 7:04 PM UTC

aiiizzz wrote: post #66

haunter wrote: post #19

I live in Hungary and the roads here are incredibly bad with millions of potholes. Hot summers and cold winters doesn’t help either. But what I noticed that if the asphalt has higer mixture of stones (usually they use basalt here) then there are virtually almost no potholes. It’s more loud as the surface is more rough but by my layman experience it’s much more durable. Pure asphalt roads with very little stone conten…

Less people drive worse roads, leading to less damage to the roads.

Post by rich_sasha » Sat, Feb 08, 2025, 7:26 PM UTC

youngtaff wrote: post #61

rich_sasha wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein: it turns out councils are only liable for pothole-related damage if they know about the pothole - i.e. if it was reported or they found it themselves. Maybe fair enough. But the county of Gloucestershire fixed the issue by ceasing all pothole inspections. If they don't know about them, they aren't liable. On this basis, they reject 97% of all claims.

Based on our experience many of the potholes around us (in Gloucestershire) get fixed