38: The Achilles heel of a road...
Problem: The weakest spots of any road are the manholes and access covers for water- and gas lines; especially when they aren't exactly level with the surface of the road. Not only will every car and truck passing hit them and shorten their lifespan; already during construction the homogeneity of the foundation layers were disturbed causing them to be the weakest points in the road anyway.
Besides this, any necessary maintenance directly results in compromising traffic flow with (partial) road closures unavoidable and are roadworkers working in harms way.
Also, (rainy) manholes are extremely dangerous for bikes and motorbikes. Braking on a manhole almost always results in an accident.
Solution: The standard of roadbuilding should be the opposite. Infrastructure should be planned and build in such a way that the manholes and access covers can only be found on the pavement or on the grass between road and pavement. Electricity and data wires on one side; sewerage, waterlines and gas on the other.
In case old infrastructure needs to be replaced; it will automatically also be moved off the riding track.
In case space is limited on the side of the roads, the infrastructure can be placed under the road but, using diagonal manholes, the service points should again be on the pavement or the grass if available.
