Potholes: aaarrgghh!!!

I think it is generally agreed that the roads in Buckinghamshire are in an appalling state, possibly significantly worse than comparable counties. Although there appears to be no set of measures by which we can grade our County for how bad/good it is, we all want and need things to improve. And we all know, don't we, that this is going to take a great deal more money? (Far more than the County Council has got after it pays for schools, adults needing care, children who are being looked after, riding stable purchases and so forth...)

Or do we?

Is it just possible that we could have better roads without more money? 

Allow me to propose some options for doing so... (And this is not the first time I have mentioned these - but it would appear that Transport for Bucks and its commissioner the County Council are not brilliant at listening to troublesome people like me...)

Option one: introduce a warranty scheme

It seems to me that some of the worst potholes happen in the places where the road has been dug up before by a service organisation (gas, water, telecoms etc) and resurfaced - but not very well. The joins between the old and new surfaces let in the water and hey presto potholes begin to form. How about if all agencies that dig up the roads had to pay for a warranty scheme. So if a pothole appears within say five years of the work they have done, the warranty scheme pays for the repair (and a darn good repair that is!) And because warranty schemes are like insurance policies, the better road diggers will pay less whilst the diggers who leave behind jobs at risk of becoming potholes will begin to pay more. This will incentivise the road diggers to leave behind good seals on the surfaces they have replaced (etc becuase it is just about good seals...) Now, this might take primary legislation to enact - but is anyone looking into this? Could our County Council be insisting on such a scheme for any organisation that wants to dig up our roads using existing powers?

Option two: do better repairs!!

Every time I drive to MK on the A422, I am struck by the road repairs near the new solar farm close to the BP garage. Why? Because the whole width of the carriageway (well half of it anyways) has been replaced. The bad pot holes that were there before were not just patched (as they probably would have been in Bucks). Northamptonshire made sure a good and lasting repair was done. And so I think somehow, someway the contract between Bucks CC and Transport for Buckinghamshire has allowed / encouraged / forced (???) TfB to do pretty useless repairs - often called 'patch and run'. How about reviewing the contract and looking for ways to reward TfB for doing repairs that last? Surely if we can put a man on the moon and now make phones with more computing power than all of NASA in the sixties - there is the technology to do great road repairs?! Maybe using different filling materials or sealants etc...

Option three: start again and look at the whole system

I have good friend and colleague who has done excellent work in the field of lean and systems thinking. Dave Gaster (Support Services Direct) has also done some brilliant work around potholes as well. He talks about how costs for repairing potholes and improving roads can be dramatically reduced by removing inefficiency from the system/processes used, investing in robust inspection regimes designed to prevent potholes forming rather than just fixing the ones that do occur. From reading about his practice, I am convinced there are ways in which TfB / BCC could reduce costs and improve the roads...

(The three options are not mutually exclusive by the way!)

In the end, this is all about installing 'stay fix' methods rather than 'quick fix' ones. This is something I have taught about for years as a management/leadership trainer, blogged (http://jonharveyassociates.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/what-is-your-cutting-angle.html) and even produced a short video (in two parts) about (1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgE3PEmI7yw&feature=youtube_gdata & 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyp0AQx9meM&feature=youtube_gdata).

Is there anyone in Buckinghamshire County Council or TfB that gets this stuff? Is anyone listening?

The state of our roads would suggest otherwise...