Glasgow resident claims road in 'dangerous' condition following work

John Crossan, who lives in the Gorbals, has hit out at Glasgow City Council for resurfacing a section of Laurieston Road with what he calls the "cheapest option".

The road was resurfaced using Microasphalt in September last year between Ballater Street and Caledonia Road.

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John claims there were already issues within a month to six weeks of the work being completed and the road has been left with "more holes" than there were before.

The 56-year-old said: "It’s just a surface of these gritty stones, and they’ve all come off because the traffic goes over, they spray them onto the pavement and because the road has a camber at the edge they’re all building up so the water isn’t able to drain away properly.

"And the road is all full of holes again."

He continued: "In fact, there are more holes there now than what there were before.

"So, if they’d done it right in the first place, they wouldn’t have to pay out to do it again."

The response to a request for information, which was submitted to Glasgow City Council, confirmed the road was treated with Microasphalt and the surfacing works cost a total of £78,757.50.

The response described Microasphalt as "a cost-effective process that has the capacity to reshape and re-profile poor condition sites that would otherwise require extensive preparatory works".

It adds that the process "typically extends the life of a carriageway by up to 10 years".

However, John says he believes the method was chosen because it is the "cheapest option".

He said: "The way things are just now with the cost-of-living crisis, it looks like they’ve just gone for the cheapest option without even considering the implications.

"How did they come to the decision they would use that method? Has it been tried elsewhere?

"It’s frustrating because Glasgow City Council are just wasting council taxpayers' money on something that’s not working and the road is worse than what it was before."

He added: "If they do it again with that Microasphalt it will be a joke."

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A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council confirmed defects with the newly laid surface were identified and remedial work will be carried out by the contractor at no extra cost to the council during the summer.

John, a health care worker, cycles to work and says the road is now in a more "dangerous" condition than it was prior to the works.

He said: "In my opinion, it’s made the road more dangerous because of these ridges at the edges."

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "Laurieston Road was previously assessed by our technical staff as a suitable location for a Microasphalt surface treatment in September 2022.

"Microasphalt is a widely deployed and highly effective material that’s used to improve road conditions where appropriate and extend the life of road surfaces by anything up to 10 years.

"Unfortunately, during early inspections of the completed work, a number of defects were identified in the newly laid surface and these issues were raised with our contractor.

"Due to the guarantees in our agreement with the contractor, remedial work will be undertaken on Laurieston Road at no further cost to the council or the taxpayer.

"Remedial work is now scheduled for summer 2023 when weather and temperatures are more suitable for undertaking this kind of road surface treatment.

"Our assessment is that no road safety repairs are required at this time but we are continuing to monitor Laurieston Road closely."