Road repairs need to be more efficient

I HAD the misfortune last week of a warning from my satnav that there were six miles of slow traffic ahead so I changed my route to travel on the M1 instead.

My entire diversion of some 10 miles (and it continued further on) was being repaired and was under speed restrictions all the way.

Did I witness 10 miles of frantic activity aimed at returning the traffic flow to normal? Hardly.

For the whole length of the restriction I saw three teams of workers whose numbers could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Why when these contracts are awarded are they given to firms whose staff amount to one man and his dog?

Why not contract large construction firms and impose penalties for late completion and reward them for early completion? Why contract out at all?

Could the country not create its own road mending firms employing sufficient labour to fill the entire length of the restriction with activity so the disruption to travel is kept to a minimum? Instead in all the time I have been travelling to down the M1 in the last five years the section from here to Luton has been permanently dug up.

We suffer in Hinckley too. Granted the town is growing faster than the infrastructure to support it but a simple road mending job stretches into weeks.

Firstly, the team will arrive, park their lorry and have a cup of tea.

Eventually, poorly sequenced temporary traffic lights will be put in place whose timings have little relevance to the traffic flow.

One of the team will then drive out the digger and dig a hole whilst the rest of the team gaze down said hole in total disbelief at the wondrous opening devel- oping before their eyes.

Someone will pat the dog. Someone else will make the tea. Eventually, the cause of the problem will be found, the hole fenced off and the team will disappear, sometimes for weeks on end.

They obviously don’t carry the spares to fix the problem so we suffer the temporary traffic lights until the spares arrive (presumably from Mars judging by the delay).

Contrast this with my most recent car repair. The car was collected by the garage, the problem found, spares ordered, delivered and fitted and the car was returned to me, properly valeted, before close of business on the same day.

If the car industry can carry the thousands of parts needed for this level of service, why can’t the road repair industry be equally efficient?