Timothy Hunter Henderson's last two years as highways supremo may not have been the most sparkling in the history of Island civil engineering, but his latest brainwave is encouraging. It takes the form of a Council sponsored "Pothole of the Week" competition on Isle of Wight Radio.
The idea is that we all 'phone in with our nominations, and the pothole that gets the most votes gets top priority from the SPS (Special Pothole Service) crack team. What a wonderful way to simultaneously empower us peasants, whilst focusing meagre resources on the most desperate cases.Of course this isn't quite up the the standard of the Steve Matthews/Ernie Fox "strategic corridors" programme, when 25 miles of high quality highway reconstruction linking Freshwater, Newport, Cowes and Ryde appeared magically over a matter of weeks, entirely at night. Even after four years of neglect, it is still possible to travel these routes without a 4x4.
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Nevertheless, the SPS is impressive. I was privileged to watch the lads in action a couple of weeks ago as they stood on the pavement by their 4 tonner, shovel of tarmac in hand, waiting for a gap in the traffic. Once the black stuff was deposited in the hole, and when traffic again permitted, the largest member of the team then jumped up and down on it several times. Job done!
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Unfortunately it rained the following night, and the whole lot was washed away, but you can't hold the Council, and H-H in particular, responsible for acts of God, can you?
1 comments:
After recently spending a week on the island i would like to comment on the absolutely disgusting state of the roads. With the island relying on tourism you would think the council would give priority to such an important issue. God only knows what damage has been caused to my cars suspension. So come on the islands council get a grip and sort it out for goodness sake.
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