Maintain potholes before they become hazardous‚ Stellenbosch academic says
Potholes should be inspected every two years in good conditions and once a month in the wet season. That’s among the proposals from a recent doctorate by the opinion of Dr Louis Roodt of Stellenbosch University’s Department of Civil Engineering announced on Friday.His academic paper “proposes road maintenance standards for potholes‚ skid resistance‚ loose material on the road surface‚ road sign visibility and readability‚ highway trees and roadside barriers”.“Potholes are bad news. Ask any driver who has had to fork out thousands of rands or any passenger who has been seriously injured because of potholes left unattended by road authorities. They can cause damage and injuries and they can kill.”Roodt suggested that “a pothole of degree 3 severity with a diameter of 200 mm and depth of more than 25 mm should be the trigger for repairs‚ as the cost would be lower and the further ingress of water speeds up deterioration”.Currently‚ “a pothole is described as hazardous and having degree 5 severity if its surface dimension is greater than 300 mm (the length of a ruler) and its depth greater than 50 mm (about the length of your thumb)”.But Roodt contended that “while this is an operational decision for [road engineers]…for safety’s sake‚ potholes should be fixed at degree 3 severity‚ irrespective of the extent‚ that is‚ even if it occurs isolated”.“The inspection frequency for potholes is proposed as every two years for roads in good condition until weak sections are identified. Inspection frequencies must then be increased to once a month in the wet season and potholes must not be allowed to deteriorate beyond degree 3.“The narrow wheels of bicycles‚ motorcycles and light vehicles dictate the size and depth of these failures from a safety point of view. When the pothole can ‘swallow’ the wheel‚ the risk of bending the rim‚ punching through or cutting the tyre is high and this could destabilise the vehicle‚” he said.Roodt also pointed out that “the complexity of maintaining roads is actually low and most actions are labour-based and can help create employment”.TMG Digital..
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