The Australian way

I've posted a few times about the different speed that construction moves at in Oz compared to Dubai. I used as an example the upgrading our council has done of the road we live in.

After about seven years they've finished the roughly one kilometre long road, putting in kerbs and gutters, drains, a footpath and resurfacing the road.

At our house the high bank between the street and our boundary meant they needed to put in retaining walls.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well they'd done it, and I posted this photo sent to me by a neighbour at the time, just before Christmas.


As soon as I got back I realised there was a problem. I should perhaps have spotted it in the photo.

If you drive in from the left side you have to bounce over the kerb/drain to get into the driveway. People who'd avoided damage to their tyres and used the ramp had left their paintwork on the right hand retaining wall.

From the amount of different coloured paint I found on it a good few had scraped the wall.

So I e-mailed the council roads department and explained the problem. The kerb ramp and the retaining walls were out of alignment. I suggested the retaining wall needed moving back about a metre.

Without telling me they were coming they apparently did an onsite inspection and called me afterwards to say they agreed with me.

A stuff up.

Moving the wall would 'cost thousands' so they proposed re-doing the kerb/ramp, which they 'hope will solve the problem'.

Sounds simple and inexpensive, I thought.

On Thursday there was some major activity:

Half the road closed, seven or eight vehicles, a digger, warning signs up all over the place, men with stop/slow signs controlling traffic. A major undertaking, it looked more like they were building a freeway than adjusting a metre of kerb.

It all got too much for some of them too...

Anyway, it took all day Thursday to break up, dig out and remove whatever it was they broke up, dug out and took away.

Today a smaller crew with only a couple of vehicles arrived and by lunchtime they'd finished.

It looks like a lot of effort for this:

When it's dried I'll give it a go and see if it's solved the problem.