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Soaring temperatures cause bridge to 'melt' (From Daily Echo)
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Hot weather melts new road surface in Cobden Bridge in Bitterne Park
12:00pm Monday 28th May 2012 in Travel
By Bethan Phillips, Reporter
Cobden Bridge in Southampton
HAMPSHIRE baked in a scorching spring heatwave at the weekend – and even a Southampton bridge began to melt.
The road surface was badly damaged at Cobden Bridge, near Bitterne Park, as the sizzling sunshine caused the bitumen to go soft.
Tyre tracks could be seen on the carriageway and some of the surface of the road had come off completely, showering the pavement with chippings.
Meanwhile, as temperatures soared to 27C (80F) in Hampshire:
Supermarkets found it hard to cope with demand – and barbecues, sausages and garden goods flew off the shelves;
Ice cream retailers reported one of their busiest days so far this year – with Carlo’s ice cream parlour in East Wellow saying they had served around 2,000 customers;
The ambulance service reported an “exceptionally busy weekend” with more than 1,100 callouts;
Hard-working Solent coastguards dealt with 29 incidents;
The sun in Hampshire outshone many foreign holiday destinations – including Egypt, which got up to 24C (75F), and Israel, which saw a high of 25C (77F).
At Cobden Bridge, road temperatures were believed to have reached between 60C (140F) and 70C (158F), as heat became trapped in the dark surface.
Southampton City Council said engineers had already been contacted to examine the road, which was last resurfaced in 2009 as part of works on Cobden Avenue that cost £600,000.
Transport boss Councillor Asa Thorpe said: “Basically when roads get hot they do have a tendency to melt in these extreme temperatures.
“When members of the public alert us to this sort of thing, officers go down and have a look at the situation and make sure things are safe.
“We’re asking the public not to unduly panic because as soon as we think there is a risk to life or property we will be doing something about it.”
Sun worshippers flocked to beaches and parks across Hampshire to catch the best of the rays, with nearby resort Bournemouth reporting four times the usual amount of visitors.
Tony Donnarumma, owner of Carlo’s Ices and Tea Rooms in East Wellow, said he had been busy making ice cream since 5am to keep up with the huge demand.
He added: “The queues from lunchtime have been right out the door.
“We’ve had five girls serving all day and they haven’t stopped.”
Asda in Totton also said they had been very busy, with hot weather goods being snapped up by customers.
Forecasters said the warm weather was set to continue into the early part of this week, with temperatures dipping slightly to around 22C (71F).
The ambulance service reported they had had a higher than normal number of callouts, as mishaps happened in the sun.
But a spokesperson said they were not aware of any specific weather-related issues and Southampton General Hospital also said it had a normal weekend in its A&E department.
As news broke of a teenager drowning in the River Thames in Oxfordshire, South Central Ambulance chiefs issued a warning about swimming in dangerous waters.
A spokesperson said: “It may be very appealing to jump into water to cool off on a hot summer’s day but people need to be aware of how dangerous it really is.
“Water can look calm on the surface but contain unseen debris and rivers in particular can have treacherous undercurrents.”
Long-range weather forecasts predict that the upcoming Jubilee bank holiday weekend will not be as hot, with cloud and the chance of some light showers in Hampshire.
Comments(39)
espanuel
says...
12:18pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas
says...
12:18pm Mon 28 May 12
Why this bit of a long 'rip' failed and only on one side of the bridge, is a mystery to me.
John C Bullas (Member of the Institute of Asphalt Technologists)
10 Minute Man
says...
12:20pm Mon 28 May 12
bigfella777
says...
12:25pm Mon 28 May 12
Urbane Forager
says...
12:40pm Mon 28 May 12
10 Minute Man wrote:I would say that the wrong material may well have been used. I saw this happening on Tuesday and posted photos on facebook.
They clearly don't have a general tendency to melt, otherwise lots of other roads would have had the problem. Instead the council needs to look at the methods and materials being used to maintain the road system, and get the contractors back to fix it for free if it turns out to be sub-standard.
First they painted cycle paths on the bridge, which was good and means I can cycle to Portswood quicker than people can drive there.
Then they resurfaced the road a couple of weeks later (with the wrong tar arguably), so that they then needed to re-paint all the road markings and cycle paths again (waste of money).
Then, on the first really warm day of the summer, everything melts and the cars start to rip up the surface!
I guess they will have to call back the contractor and get it fixed, for free I hope.
I didn't melt before they resurfaced it and although it was hot, only the new tar on the bridge melted - this didn't happen on any other hot roads that I saw...
johnbullas
says...
12:42pm Mon 28 May 12
business-guru
says...
12:50pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas wrote:I suggest you post on here again , this time explain why roads do not melt in Paris, Grenoble, Munich and Moscow.
Countries where it is hot all year round can design their bituminous road surfaces more easily than countries like the UK where we can see -10c to +30c over a year. Bituminous road surfacing materials need to be soft enough at 150-250c to be able to be compacted by the action of a road roller BUT be able to withstand 1000's of vehicles a day when cold/solid - sometimes this balance is wrong and you see the very same effect on very hot days on rural roads, they can "fat up" when the chippings embed into the bituminous binder surface (year upon year of 'surface dressing' stone chips on sprayed bitumen ).
Why this bit of a long 'rip' failed and only on one side of the bridge, is a mystery to me.
John C Bullas (Member of the Institute of Asphalt Technologists)
These three cities have annual temperature bands of 55 degrees celcius. Southampton has as average annual temperature band of 37 degrees and maximum temperature band of 45 degrees. SO how come parisien roads do not melt !?!?
johnbullas
says...
12:55pm Mon 28 May 12
business-guru wrote:I think you will find that they do melt, infrequently, but they do - just like ours....... Tengiz in Kazakhstan has a seasonal max/min temperature range of approximately -40c to +45c and they have some bituminous roads too :)
johnbullas wrote:I suggest you post on here again , this time explain why roads do not melt in Paris, Grenoble, Munich and Moscow.
Countries where it is hot all year round can design their bituminous road surfaces more easily than countries like the UK where we can see -10c to +30c over a year. Bituminous road surfacing materials need to be soft enough at 150-250c to be able to be compacted by the action of a road roller BUT be able to withstand 1000's of vehicles a day when cold/solid - sometimes this balance is wrong and you see the very same effect on very hot days on rural roads, they can "fat up" when the chippings embed into the bituminous binder surface (year upon year of 'surface dressing' stone chips on sprayed bitumen ).
Why this bit of a long 'rip' failed and only on one side of the bridge, is a mystery to me.
John C Bullas (Member of the Institute of Asphalt Technologists)
These three cities have annual temperature bands of 55 degrees celcius. Southampton has as average annual temperature band of 37 degrees and maximum temperature band of 45 degrees. SO how come parisien roads do not melt !?!?
Maine Lobster
says...
1:12pm Mon 28 May 12
bigfella777 wrote:A ridiculous statement. The previous Labour Council you scorn hasn't been in control for a decade. You need to look at Royston Smith's outsourcing to Balfour Beatty for the bodge job that has led to this poor road surface.
Probably a quick backhander botch job arranged by the previous Labour council, they should get the unions onto this.
On the inside
says...
1:18pm Mon 28 May 12
bigfella777 wrote:If you have evidence of corruption put it in the public domain. Otherwise shut your face and **** off.
Probably a quick backhander botch job arranged by the previous Labour council, they should get the unions onto this.
voiceof thepeople
says...
1:30pm Mon 28 May 12
Shoong
says...
1:31pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas
says...
1:32pm Mon 28 May 12
freefinker
says...
1:33pm Mon 28 May 12
espanuel wrote:.. not far off the mark.
The roads dont melt in Spain when the temps reach 40-45 in July and AUGUST. Cheap tarmac from the travs.
As Marine Lobster says 'You need to look at Royston Smith's outsourcing to Balfour Beatty for the bodge job'.
I'm sure it will happen to other surfaces they have 'repaired'.
freefinker
says...
1:37pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas wrote:.. having come back on Saturday on the 'into town side' I can assure you both sides are shot away.
You might think the patch on the bridge would be cooler as the air circulated around the bridge, but that still doesn't explain why only the out of town direction failed....
surfer2050
says...
1:41pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas
says...
2:00pm Mon 28 May 12
m/photos/johnbullas/
7282294956/in/set-72
157629924186502 both sides are showing distress but there is a marked difference between the two lanes
johnbullas
says...
2:02pm Mon 28 May 12
m/photos/johnbullas/
7282225832/
good-gosh
says...
2:05pm Mon 28 May 12
business-guru
says...
2:06pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas wrote:I have spent a very long time in France and have never seen roads melt, with one exception... when temperatures reached 37 in caen a few years back I saw one sticky road... during that hearwave, french roads were fine.. we just need to lay roads using the same stuff they use...
business-guru wrote:I think you will find that they do melt, infrequently, but they do - just like ours....... Tengiz in Kazakhstan has a seasonal max/min temperature range of approximately -40c to +45c and they have some bituminous roads too :)
johnbullas wrote:I suggest you post on here again , this time explain why roads do not melt in Paris, Grenoble, Munich and Moscow.
Countries where it is hot all year round can design their bituminous road surfaces more easily than countries like the UK where we can see -10c to +30c over a year. Bituminous road surfacing materials need to be soft enough at 150-250c to be able to be compacted by the action of a road roller BUT be able to withstand 1000's of vehicles a day when cold/solid - sometimes this balance is wrong and you see the very same effect on very hot days on rural roads, they can "fat up" when the chippings embed into the bituminous binder surface (year upon year of 'surface dressing' stone chips on sprayed bitumen ).
Why this bit of a long 'rip' failed and only on one side of the bridge, is a mystery to me.
John C Bullas (Member of the Institute of Asphalt Technologists)
These three cities have annual temperature bands of 55 degrees celcius. Southampton has as average annual temperature band of 37 degrees and maximum temperature band of 45 degrees. SO how come parisien roads do not melt !?!?
allmove4ward2geva
says...
2:46pm Mon 28 May 12
On the inside wrote:Genius reply. Took the words right out of my mouth
bigfella777 wrote: Probably a quick backhander botch job arranged by the previous Labour council, they should get the unions onto this.If you have evidence of corruption put it in the public domain. Otherwise shut your face and **** off.
bazzeroz
says...
3:11pm Mon 28 May 12
johnbullas wrote:I just looked at that picture and decided it can't be real because the Citroen CV was speeding!
http://www.flickr.co
m/photos/johnbullas/
7282225832/
Fatty x Ford Worker
says...
3:25pm Mon 28 May 12
Niel
says...
3:39pm Mon 28 May 12
Some of the roads recently done were multi-pass sprayed with stone between each pass, so the over-lap ridges are huge. And doesn't help they don't even roll them at lot of the time, but rely on passing traffic to do the job for them, money for old rope...
dolomiteman
says...
3:47pm Mon 28 May 12
When I noticed it on Tuesday I though it had been caused by a diesel spillage so phoned the council who told me an assesor was already on route to check it out.
George4th
says...
4:04pm Mon 28 May 12
business-guru
says...
4:05pm Mon 28 May 12
forest tony
says...
6:02pm Mon 28 May 12
mollydolly123
says...
6:41pm Mon 28 May 12
D.a.v.e
says...
8:01pm Mon 28 May 12
mollydolly123 wrote:I think you are right. The cycle lanes were put in at the same time.
Echo states that road was last resurfaced in 2009, wasnt it done last year or was that diruption for something else
SOULJACKER
says...
10:25pm Mon 28 May 12
Oh my Lord...you will write anything won't ya ...even my 9 year old son knows the bridge didn't melt :(
forest tony
says...
10:34pm Mon 28 May 12
SOULJACKER wrote:Brilliant!
You Idiots.....the bridge didn't melt, there would be a mass of mangled metal wouldn't there & that just that didn't happen did it now....the road surface did.....DUH!
Oh my Lord...you will write anything won't ya ...even my 9 year old son knows the bridge didn't melt :(
southy
says...
11:17am Tue 29 May 12
bigfella777 wrote:Can I remind you was it not a Tory Council back in 2009 that ordered the work to be done.
Probably a quick backhander botch job arranged by the previous Labour council, they should get the unions onto this.
southy
says...
11:20am Tue 29 May 12
Urbane Forager wrote:its not so much the tar it self but how much Quartz there is in the stone chippings.
10 Minute Man wrote:I would say that the wrong material may well have been used. I saw this happening on Tuesday and posted photos on facebook.
They clearly don't have a general tendency to melt, otherwise lots of other roads would have had the problem. Instead the council needs to look at the methods and materials being used to maintain the road system, and get the contractors back to fix it for free if it turns out to be sub-standard.
First they painted cycle paths on the bridge, which was good and means I can cycle to Portswood quicker than people can drive there.
Then they resurfaced the road a couple of weeks later (with the wrong tar arguably), so that they then needed to re-paint all the road markings and cycle paths again (waste of money).
Then, on the first really warm day of the summer, everything melts and the cars start to rip up the surface!
I guess they will have to call back the contractor and get it fixed, for free I hope.
I didn't melt before they resurfaced it and although it was hot, only the new tar on the bridge melted - this didn't happen on any other hot roads that I saw...
Kendel Ave road sounded wet which is a sign that the tar as gone soft.
johnbullas
says...
12:18pm Tue 29 May 12
Ant Smoking MP
says...
8:35pm Tue 29 May 12
hulla baloo wrote:Was this the road resurfaced by Balfour Beatty (part of the Road Works Programme) that the Tories were celebrating prior to May 3rd as part of their great big 'vision' for Southampton?
"Transport boss Councillor Asa Thorpe said: “Basically when roads get hot they do have a tendency to melt in these extreme temperatures."
Extreme temperatures??????? hardly!! he needs to take a look at the countries that are much hotter all year round. They seem to survive without melting
.
Peanuts and Monkeys come to mind and I would argue the Tories fault!!The wonders of outsourced, privatised work
forest tony
says...
9:20pm Tue 29 May 12
ausnic
says...
1:43am Wed 30 May 12
hulla baloo says...
12:07pm Mon 28 May 12
Extreme temperatures??????? hardly!! he needs to take a look at the countries that are much hotter all year round. They seem to survive without melting