County surface dressing to get underway soon
Warwickshire County Council is about to start its annual ‘surface dressing’ programme of roads across the county.
Gangs will start work on the 6th May in the Stratford and Warwick areas before moving to the north of the county.
The £2 million programme involves the application of a bitumen binder and stone chippings to the road surface to help prolong its life. More than 380 sites are to be treated which include all categories of road from ‘A’ roads to residential cul-de-sacs. The programme is due to be completed by September.
Tony Iwanikiw, Warwickshire County Council’s Programme Delivery Manager, said: “Drivers should keep their speed at 10mph or less through areas being treated with surface dressing. We advise this speed to help keep our workers safe and to minimise the hazard of flying chippings picked up by tyres.”
Carillion the council’s highway maintenance contractor is carrying out the work. Residents whose roads are being treated will be notified by letter to help ensure roads are cleared of vehicles to allow the work to be carried out as quickly as possible.
Cllr Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “These works are excellent in extending the life of our roads in an extremely cost effective way.
“Last year for the first time we used a new washing and recycling process that enabled us to recycle 1,600 tonnes of stone chippings that would have otherwise been disposed of. This year we are looking to recycle almost twice as much.
“This means that more than 3,000 tonnes will not have to be brought into the county thus reducing noise and dust associated with quarrying and transportation, reducing the carbon foot print of the operation and giving us savings of more than £30,000.”
After the initial surface dressing operation and first vacuum-sweep of loose chippings, the roads are swept at seven days and six-week intervals to ensure safety of all road users.
Typically 10% of chippings are swept up over the six-week period and recycled for more surface dressing work on other less busy rural roads to ensure no materials are wasted.
To find out more about when and where work will take place please visit: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/surfacedressing.