Have you ever wondered what makes a pothole a pothole? Whether they’re the size of a dinner plate or a golf ball, potholes are still making their mark on county roads so Gloucestershire County Council is keen for people to better understand how we deal with them.
In January, the council launched Operation Road Rescue to tackle the severe damage caused to our roads following the harsh winter. Since then we’ve repaired around 75,000 potholes and carried out more than 250,000 sq metres of patching – enough to cover 60 football pitches. There’s still more to be done to repair last year’s damage and as winter is now fast approaching, our roads are going to come under even more pressure as temperatures drop.
The council is already prioritising its workload to ensure the most serious problems are repaired as soon as possible and this will continue to happen throughout the winter. To ensure people understand how we will be working, the council is launching the second phase of Operation Road Rescue.
This phase will focus on explaining to people how inspections are carried out, how we classify potholes and how we prioritise the repairs. After questions from the public on how we assess road damage and decide what to fix, the council has produced a new YouTube video which helps people see for themselves exactly what we do.
The new four-minute film explains to people what makes a pothole, how they’re measured and why some potholes are not repaired. Cllr Stan Waddington, cabinet member for environment, said: “I know people are still frustrated with the condition of some of our roads. “There’s also confusion about what constitutes a pothole and how we decide which ones to repair immediately and which ones we don’t. “Hopefully the YouTube film will make it clearer to people how we’re working and why we’re working this way.
“The bottom line is that we have to prioritise what we do, firstly to makes sure we target the most serious damage first and secondly to manage costs. “I’d encourage everyone to visit our website and watch the film for themselves.” In addition to the work repairing potholes, the council will be investing in more cost effective solutions to reduce the damage in future.
Surface treatments like microasphalt and surface dressing help to prevent excessive wear and tear and help seal the road from bad weather. This treatment will not be used instead of resurfacing, as roads that are severely damaged cannot be treated with surface dressings.
Safety is our number one priority so any road that is in a dangerous condition will be repaired as soon as possible.
For more information, visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/roadrescue .