Romania - Transilvaniei Highway

I saw Top Gear and the road looked fantastic for a car, but the shots of the road surface put me off going there on a bike. The trouble with roads in high mountains is that the surface deteriorates quickly in winter and they are not that well maintained. I've gone into some lovely fast corners in Italy (in a car) only to find that mid corner the road surface drops by a couple of inches due to subsidence and the surface becomes cracked and broken. You can get away with stuff like that in a car, but once committed on a bike, well that's a different matter.

[punyXpress]

Didn't like the look of the journey there!
lots of horse-drawn carts = lots of nails on road?
Bet yorkiechris's bike would make more noise in the basement than those
posing pouches, though.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by plowsie

It looked decent, but, get it wrong, it wouldn't be.

But that's true of any road dude. Alpine roads in general have some big scary drops, often with no barrier, so the only thing about this road for me would be the surface / lack of maintenance. The wearing course appeared to be breaking up and there were patches missing, fairly standard fare on less looked after mountain roads. I think this Romanian road will only get worse as they don't have the money to look after it - perhaps they should make it a toll road like the Grossglockner.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

I think this Romanian road will only get worse as they don't have the money to look after it - perhaps they should make it a toll road like the Grossglockner.

Do you know that they don't have any money to look after it? Or is this purely speculation?

Last year there was a concerted effort to improve the roads (though at the time this was (a) Mainly in the cities, (b) Linked to the upcoming elections...).

Originally Posted by Luckypants

But that's true of any road dude.

True, very true, but not all roads have a nice drop after running wide on a bend. But I get where your coming from.

I dont think the romanians will be thanking top gear for advertising that road, the traffic that hit the one they featured last time caused an all time record high for accidents in the region. British bloke even died in his Lambo, I doubt the romanians want to be spending big money on highway maintenance. When its been pointed out, the money is in the city the other places are mainly horse and cart. Understandbale when you see the standard of some of the cars like the bloke who rolled into James Lambo.

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

I dont think the romanians will be thanking top gear for advertising that road, the traffic that hit the one they featured last time caused an all time record high for accidents in the region. British bloke even died in his Lambo, I doubt the romanians want to be spending big money on highway maintenance. When its been pointed out, the money is in the city the other places are mainly horse and cart. Understandbale when you see the standard of some of the cars like the bloke who rolled into James Lambo.

But surely advertising the road can only do good things for the area's tourism industry? I would've thought the money that comes in from lots of people being attracted to the area could initially be put towards the maintenance of the road then the locals reap the benefits after?

[punyXpress]

That dam wall didn't look too sound either!

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

But surely advertising the road can only do good things for the area's tourism industry? I would've thought the money that comes in from lots of people being attracted to the area could initially be put towards the maintenance of the road then the locals reap the benefits after?

Oh Agreed totally Id have thought the local grape pickers etc will do a roaring trade lol. The council or what ever they're equivlent is wont get much money out of the visitors. Any money they do get and have left after replacing all the barriers/walls that people crash through/into wont cover resurfacing of a road that long anyway.
Besides would you put money towards fixing something that the locals wont actually care about? If they're used to dirt roads and gravel, even broken tar-mac will look like Abu Dabi raceway to them wont it.

Dunno if that makes sense to anyone else lol, but I know what I mean.

[punyXpress]

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7;
If they're used to [B

dirt roads and gravel,[/B] even broken tar-mac will look like Abu Dabi raceway to them wont it.

Dunno if that makes sense to anyone else lol, but I know what I mean.

Like WRC cars or TLW's KTM?