Highways bosses at Cheshire East Council have finally admitted there are “issues” with the surface dressing along the A500 Shavington Bypass.
It follows hundreds of complaints from motorists about loose gravel smashing windscreens and denting vehicles since the works were done last summer.
Similar work was also done on the A49 Whitchurch Road near Nantwich as well as other major routes in the borough.
Now they are warning of “further improvement works” to be carried out in May, likely to lead to more delays.
In a statement, Cllr Mark Goldsmith, chair of highways and transport committee at Cheshire East said: “As part of our routine inspections, we recently became aware of issues with surface dressing works that were carried out last year along the A34 Maclean Way/ Birrell Way in Wilmslow, the A500 Shavington Bypass, the A49 Whitchurch Road, the A54 Buxton Road, and the A533 London Road/ Middlewich Road in Sandbach.
“The treatment carried out on these roads, which is used widely by councils across the country, helps to seal the road and prevent water from getting in.
“Over the past few years, almost 609,000 sqm of this treatment has been laid in Cheshire East and we have not experienced issues like this in the borough before.
“Of this, just under 26,000 sqm has been affected by these issues – around 11% of the 231,000 sqm delivered last year.
“In most cases, including with the A500, only a section of the road is affected and not the full length of where works were carried out.
“We are working with our contractor responsible for the works to understand the cause and a full and thorough investigation is being carried out.
“There are no safety concerns with the roads, but we of course want to ensure the works are up to the standards we expect from a treatment of this type and are planning to carry out further improvement works when the weather is more suitable.
“We currently expect this to be during May. These works will be carried out at no extra cost to the council.
“We apologise for any inconvenience or concern caused and would like to reassure our residents that we are committed to managing the impact of these works and ensuring our roads are safe.
“Since being made aware of the issues, we have been carrying out regular monitoring and inspection of each road, along with regular sweeping to remove any excess chippings from the road.”
(Image courtesy of CEC Highways)
I no longer use the A500 because my car gets shaken to bits by the rumble strips when I use it. My partner also had a damaged windscreen from the gravel that gets thrown up. The Shavington bypass is currently unusable and it’s too long to wait until May until it’s fixed. The rumble strips also encourage you to drive faster to avoid being badly shaken which is the opposite of the desired effect!
I am sick to the back teeth of the excuses made by council officials because theyve screwed up..they don’t have the money to fix these issues those rumble strips are an absolute joke like the rest of the roads get the PM down and take him down the A500 in “HIS” own car that he’s responsible for footing the repair bills and show him our amazing pot-hole city via rumble strip runway….cheshire east your a bloody joke……
I feel sorry for anyone being blue lighted to Royal Stoke going over those yellow strips, it’s bad enough going really slow
Yellow slow downs stripes too high they are braking up and shake the car so bad. Not good if you are on a motorbike especially if it is wet. We have complained to the council but no reply back.
“recently come to our attention”? Seriously? I personally know 3 people who have made complaints as soon as the work was done and the council denied their damage claims. It’s no wonder the council of complete incompetence is facing bankruptcy with people like Mr Goldsmith working for them. Typical civil servant mentality, they’d not survive 3 minutes in a private business
The rumble strips are ridiculous and we can hear cars going over them round the clock where we live. I’ve had several stone chips to my vehicle bodywork on the Shavington stretch too the lady few weeks. Not good.
The rumble strips need removing/ altering as they are a total nuisance and will cause an accident before long.
The rumble strips are so violent that I avoid the Shavington bypass in favour of the old Newcastle Road totally defeating the reason why the bypass was constructed. I’d encourage others to do likewise until the bypass is made safe and roadworthy.
*strips (no glasses and auto corrected!!)
Totally agree Maureen. I feel it’s not the height or the length of the rumble stripes in place (apparently they are the legal height) but the frequency of the stripes themselves. Never before have I seen them so close together. If they just burnt off 2/3 or even 4 stripes for every other one it would make a huge difference. I’m not even sure we need them in the first place!
There seems to be two issues with the rumble strips. They are too high meaning you have to slow to a crawl – significantly slower than other roads. Also, with a short or lightweight car there is a situation where the dampers havent settled before the next strip is hit. This actually makes the car unstable even at low speeds. The exact opposite of what a ‘safety’ feature is trying to achieve.
I agree, the rumble strips are too high and go on for longer than necessary. Even if you slow down to 30 you continue to be shaken to bits. Absolutely infuriating!
I had a mini with normal tyres and not run flats and tbh were ok . I now have a Nissan juke and to all the people who say we are going too fast Im literally slowing down and still get bounced out of the seat If I go any slower will cause an accident
Get to Fk with those rumble strips and fix all my cars now they have holes in the windscreen.
Crewe council should repair everything that’s damaged by their Pss Poor workmanship and design team that built those bloody yellow car killers !!
When I complained when my windscreen was damaged within a week of it being re-laid I was told by the council that basically tough and nothing to do with them . Funny how they change their tune when it gets into the media. Also totally agree about the rumble strips which literally bounce you out of your seat even If you go slow . They will cause an accident on their own so they need to while resurfaces make the rumble strips less violent
The yellow rumble strips are way to high , I understand they are for slowing cars down but even if u do slow you are still being bounced out of the drivers seat and your backside is gripping onto the seat
Dear moaners
The rumble strips are fine. They are designed to slow vehicles down ahead of a major intersection.
If you can feel them that badly, it means you are driving too fast on your approach to the roundabout. So, slow down!
from the driver of a small hatchback
Yea, I have a mini and those bloody yellow stripes are far too high, even at low speed they cause a lot of damage, I’ll avoid that road when poss. Come one get them removed !!!!!
The main issue is you are trying to cover up an already damaged road surface, the foundation needs to be sound for this process to work.
As long as we the tax payers are not going to have to foot the repair bill further down the line
What about the massive yellow slowing down lines that shake your car to pieces on the a500 Shavington bypass before the islands ??😡
Anyone else having issues with the yellow stripes that they’ve painted as well. They’re far too harsh, and make the car feel like it’s going to break apart. They are ridiculous