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Anger as "dangerous" potholes repaired on World Championships route while other roads nearby remain "abysmal"

Member of the Scottish Parliament Graham Simpson called the selective repairs a "kick in the teeth for motorists"...

As the days left ticker drops below three days to go until the UCI Cycling World Championships begins in Scotland, the state of Glasgow roads has again been thrust into the spotlight. This time as politicians, pothole campaigners, a taxi federation chairman, as well as numerous locals, have hit out at the council fixing defects on roads used by the event as others nearby remain "appalling" and "dangerous".

In a piece published this weekend by the Scottish Sun, it was reported how council contractors had been spotted undergoing last-minute repairs to roads on the route, near to where the finish line of the road race events in Glasgow will be found. Nearby, but not on the route, the newspaper snapped photos of pothole-hit roads and "craters" that had not been fixed.

Commenting on the situation, Conservative MSP Graham Simpson, called the Scottish National Party-controlled council's repairs "a kick in the teeth for motorists" and said it was "appalling" that potholes on the route were seemingly being prioritised.

In response to the story, Glasgow City Council insisted that "no specific funding had been set aside for road repairs ahead of the event" and explained how the UCI "requires routes to be in an appropriate condition to hold the races, which we continue to do as part of our usual roads maintenance programme."

However, MSP and former shadow transport secretary Simpson hit out at the "dangerous conditions" locals see every day and called the state of Glasgow's roads "abysmal", comments backed up by pothole activist Mr Pothole, real name Mark Morrell.

"Glasgow is the pothole capital of the UK," he said. "Now you've got the local council desperately trying to patch up the roads when clearly they've known about it long enough. It's appalling. Does it mean we need to have a big cycling event for them to fix our roads? It seems like a bid to prevent bad publicity. 

"But residents and visitors are suffering damage to their vehicles due to roads not being maintained to a satisfactory standard."

Scottish Taxi Federation chairman John Kyle added: "Roads all over Glasgow and the outskirts are in such a bad condition. This is just a temporary fix. I'd like to see the workforce focusing on not just filling in potholes but sorting them properly."

"I'm happy they are fixing roads for the cyclists," a Glasgow nightclub boss also told the newspaper. "But as far as sorting the rest goes, they've had years to get this correct and haven't done so."

In the article, the Scottish Sun notes defects at George Square, St Vincent Place and St Vincent Street were repaired, but shared photos of similar potholes on nearby John Street, Virginia Street, Rottenrow and Bothwell Street, as well as a collapsed manhole cover on West Campbell Street, none of which feature on the road race routes.

Antony Kildare of the charity IAM RoadSmart said "Repairs should be done in a systemic and planned way. It needs to be prioritised and funded to support safer roads, and enable events like this to go ahead with less risk of injury."

Glasgow pothole (@SpamRogic/Twitter)

Meanwhile, as the UCI's social media account dedicated to the World Championships shared a video trailer for the event, saying "Glasgow is ready to show off the power of the bike" as well as its cultural offering, several replies asked about the state of the city's roads, another suggesting it was also ready to show off the "world-class cycling infrastructure" seen below.

Potholes have been a hot topic in the build up to the UCI's premier event visiting Scottish soil. Back in February we reported that a local cyclist had raised the alarm over "dangerous" potholes on the road race routes.

2023 World Championships Glasgow road race potholes (Liam McReanan)

Then, in June, a "crude" last-minute "patch-up" of potholes was criticised, a representative from Tadej Pogačar's Slovenian team reportedly saying the Scottish roads are the "worst they'd ever seen".

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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22 comments

Avatar
Left_is_for_Losers | 1 year ago
1 like

Could the Scots not just fill all the potholes with some porridge?

 

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chrisonabike replied to Left_is_for_Losers | 1 year ago
0 likes

Yes but barefooted bairns would sidle out of closes and take it for scran.

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Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
0 likes

Funded by the LEZ?

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Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
1 like

No offence Glasgee. I love the Highlands and lochs. But, I'm expecting inner city catapult snipers in those high rises, seeking to pick out easy target riders for their ten grand bikes, expensive kit and gel packs.
I wouldn't put it past "the wee bairns", to be out on the expensive new tarmac, at 2am, wi hammer n chisel. By the time they'll be finished, the race will resemble a mad max scene and a race for survival....

Where's Netflix when you need it?

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Bradshsi replied to Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
1 like

The inner city route is through Merchant city, the city center and the west end. Some pretty expensive properties there so any mad max imagineering has a near zero probability.

I get a nice spot to watch the racing as they are closing Byres Road close to my house.

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Fignon's ghost replied to Bradshsi | 1 year ago
0 likes

Perhaps you can fuel the riders for the game of death that lies ahead.

Thank you in advance.

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giff77 replied to Bradshsi | 1 year ago
1 like

Just need to make sure the West Patrick crowd don't get past the bridge and it'll be grand. 

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check12 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Cry me a river 

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
16 likes

"We want some roads repaired!"

(Council repairs some roads)

"No not like that you've done that for cyclists we want roads repaired for US!"

"But you can use them too..."

"It's not the same if you didn't do it specially for US! It's not fair, we want roads repaired just for US!"

Toddler logic.

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ktache | 1 year ago
7 likes

Someone might want to mention to him that motorists will be able to drive on the repaired roads...

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Backladder replied to ktache | 1 year ago
5 likes

Indeed, and I look forward to hearing the thanks of all the motorists towards the cyclists for getting at least some of the roads repaired when I'm watching the racing this weekend.

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Organon | 1 year ago
8 likes

Potholes caused by those motorists; repairs subsidised by cyclist's taxes, who are disproportionatly effected by that same damage.

Oh, and isn't the WC normally after TOB?

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I love my bike replied to Organon | 1 year ago
2 likes

If only cyclists paid 'road tax' it would all be fine  3 (but they'd not be the need for gravel bikes or SUVs, oops)

I wonder which utilities will now find the need to dig up the repaired roads, just because?

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yupiteru | 1 year ago
15 likes

'Scottish Sun' and 'Conservative MSP' is as far as you need to read before you carry on with your life.

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marmotte27 replied to yupiteru | 1 year ago
3 likes

A few years back that would have been my reaction as well. Unfortunately in an age of so called conservatives descending ever further into extreme rightwing scapegoating territory, democrats now have to pay close attention to these clowns.

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EraserBike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Crabs in a bucket mentality. Yes it would be great to fix all roads but why get angry when some are fixed and others not (yet)?

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Dnnnnnn | 1 year ago
9 likes

Sounds like an argument in favour of more cycle events for everyone's benefit.

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brooksby | 1 year ago
4 likes

Someone needs to explain to Mr Simpson that what usually happens is that potholes do not get repaired until they are at a size where they'll impact upon motor traffic (or until a vulnerable road user is actually injured).  The potholes being repaired are not, I'd wager, at such a level.  If the Championships weren't happening, these roads wouldn't be repaired at all (IMO).

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Bigfoz replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Trust me, we've got some stonking pot holes, make the rest of the UK look like amateurs in the pothole stakes. I assume the rain / winter weather contributes, but an almost total lack of maintenance or resurfacing plays its part too. There's a short section of a very popular cycling road close to me that I report the same set of potholes on every autumn and every spring. Council slaps a temporary patch on, it comes apart again in weeks - seems to be a spring or run off underneath that breaks the surface up even in summer. Number of inspections to ascertain why the road needs fixed twice a year every year? So far, 0 in 15 years. In spite of specific picture supported emails to roads dept.

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giff77 replied to Bigfoz | 1 year ago
0 likes

I see your Weegie pot holes and raise you with a Norn Iron speciality https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/waist-high-co-t...
Waist-high Co Tyrone pothole poses ‘catastrophic’ danger says local councillor

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jkirkcaldy | 1 year ago
5 likes

I guess if you visit Glasgow in a couple of weeks once the Championships are over we won't see any motorists or Taxis on these roads then. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to jkirkcaldy | 1 year ago
3 likes

The council dig them back up again. 

The same complaints occurred when the local councils filled in some of the worst Potholes on Birmingham Velo route in 2019. Although tbf, they were more of a patch job and not long lasting once the heavier vehicles got back on the routes. 

 

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