New road surface possibilities

The City Council is not promising anything just yet, but there is a possibility Beech Croft Road could be resurfaced this year.
Resurfacing can mean anything from just a bit of grit and tar spread on top of the old bumpy road to a whole new inch of top surface. Obviously, we would all like the potholes at the edges filled in, provided, as people often say, it doesn't encourage cars to race down the street. But, hopefully, our range of psychological calming methods will induce less frenetic responses in drivers. This top end possibility would make the road smoother, more waterproof, and leave no potholes or rough edges. However, we might lose the three rows of setts (cobbles) at the edges, although they could re-used as part of a new dropped kerb treatment to keep the pavement flat and level all the way along (see other posts on this blog). If we were to get this Rolls Royce surface then the street's drainage would also improve, as the road surface would at last be higher than the gullies!
Another possibility is a less comprehensive resurfacing - a cheap job. But this still gives us a great opportunity to change the colour of the road if we wish to: the road doesn't have to be Henry Ford black. The new Summertown scheme has white chunks in the road which creates some psychological impression on drivers (pedestrian area? car park? you are on a runway?), and Plantation Road has been turned brown recently, so have a look, think about it, and let us know your views.
But road resurfacing also offers us another great opportunity: to temporarily pilot, and live with, alternative road painting designs, before they are covered by the new surface. All we need is advance notice of when the resurfacing is going to occur, a small budget for paints (we have), and some volunteers. Then we can trial designs, live with them, and once the road has been resurfaced (in a new colour?), take our time to reflect on which designs worked best, and how we liked living with them.
So some exciting possibilities in 2009. First, though, we must wait until we have a definite work proposal from the Council. We'll keep you posted on this blog, but let us know your views on designs and road colouring.