Thousands of potholes filled as county roads are repaired
Warwickshire County Council’s County Highways teams filled almost 15,000 potholes between January and April to repair roads which were damaged during harsh winter weather.
The extent of the operation, which cost around £200,000, has been revealed as the county council launches its preparations for the coming winter months.
Warwickshire received a £1.12 million grant from the Department for Transport as part of a national winter emergency funding grant to address the damage to Warwickshire’s 3,820km highway network by ice and snow.
The Government grant is provided to support authorities in England towards expenditure lawfully incurred or accrued by them in respect of costs for emergency revenue maintenance works.
Since April, County Highways has been able to employ up to nine road patching gangs across Warwickshire to deal with the vast backlog of winter potholes and localised winter damaged sections of highway.
Councillor Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment and Economy, said: “The additional emergency funding from the Department for Transport to repair Warwickshire’s roads after the severe winter was very welcome last Spring. The funds have been put to effective use during the past six months in dealing with the immediate backlog to make our local roads safe for users.
“Our main highway contractor – Carillion Highway Maintenance - has completed some 25,000 square metres of localised permanent repairs to potholes during the past six months and largely caught up on backlog of current potholes. We aim to repair all reported potholes with 28 days, and within 24 hours for the most severe potholes.”
Cllr Cockburn added that arrangements were now in place for the coming winter months and 14,000 tonnes of grit had been stockpiled in case the weather took a turn for the worse.
In a typical year, County Highways treats some 200km of highway with surface dressing and strengthens some 20 to 50km with overlays and reconstruction along with some 30,000-40,000sqm of tarmac patching to potholes and localised road deterioration.
The public are encouraged to report any safety related highway defects by telephone on 01926 412515 or via its website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk