An inspector calls – road rescue phase two

Posted on By Pauline

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 .

Road safety budget

Posted on By Pauline

What budget cuts mean for road safety and improvements

As a partner in our Road Safety Partnership I wished to write to you personally to tell you about the difficult decisions we have had to make as a County Council to road safety and improvements after Central Government made cuts to our budget this year.

What cuts have been made?
In its bid to reduce huge public debt, the Coalition Government announced cuts of £6.5 million to Gloucestershire County Council budgets this year. Of this:

•    £1.37 million is being cut from integrated transport capital (money used for specific projects and new builds)
•    £210,000 is being cut from road safety revenue (money used to run day to day business) with a further £180,000 from road safety capital

What does this mean for road safety?
We have to take a number of steps as a result of Government cuts.

1.    There will be no new capital investment in speed cameras, saving the required £180,000 capital. This is the right decision to make as the Coalition Government has clearly signalled new fixed camera sites will not be funded.
2.    As Government has cut funding it gives us to operate speed cameras, we are withdrawing £150,000 from operations and enforcement and reviewing speed camera operations.
3.    We will review how we can deliver road safety education more effectively with reduced resources, after having to withdraw £60,000 from this area
Tony Dix
Community Safety Officer
Cotswold District Council
Tel: 01285 623611

Hate Crime Report  It 0800 077 8460

Scrutiny Committee to Look at Highways Inspection

Posted on By Pauline

Gloucestershire County Council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee will be discussing the Highways Inspection policy this week.

The cross-party committee meets regularly to scrutinise decision making and hold the council to account for its actions on behalf of the public.

On Friday March 19th, the committee will gather to hear an update on how road repairs have progressed since the Highways Inspection Policy was suspended following the extreme winter weather.

Cllr Chas Fellows, chairman of the environment scrutiny committee said: “As a scrutiny committee we will be looking very carefully at this issue and asking questions about what has been done. People want to know how the work is progressing and what the council is doing to ensure that these repairs are carried out as quickly as possible. We know that the state of the roads is a top priority for council tax payers and this committee is here to give them a voice. We are a cross-party committee so I am sure it will be an interesting debate that will focus on the real issues and not the politics.”

The Highways Inspection Policy sets out how the council should react to reports of potholes or other defects on the roads. Under the policy, reported defects are inspected and put into a 28-day rolling programme of repairs. But it was suspended at the end of January so the crews could be diverted to fixing the emergency repairs caused during the bad weather as soon as possible.

The suspension was lifted initially until the end of April and the environment scrutiny committee will receive a report which says the policy should be reinstated as planned.
However, the report also explains that the backlog of damage will take a further four to six months to repair.

When the council launched Operation Road Rescue on January 25th a timeframe of six months to repair the backlog was originally estimated so work is progressing as planned. Under Operation Road Rescue, the council has 70 gangs currently repairing around 500 potholes every day and since the campaign was launched more than 18,400 have been filled.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will meet at 10am on Friday March 19th in the Cabinet Suite at Shire Hall. It is a public meeting so you are welcome to attend.

Issued by Gloucestershire County Council’s media team.

Lisa Bonnell
Media & PR Officer
Gloucestershire County Council
Tel: 01452 425226 / 07805 540422
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/pressoffice

Gloucestershire Highways Adverse Weather Bulletin

Posted on By Pauline

Date:    5th January 2010
Time:    1800hrs
Issued By:    Martyn Summerell  /  Roger Williams


Current Weather Conditions:
East:    Level fall of 5cm to 10cm across the area.
West:     Level fall of 3cm to 4cm across the area.
Central:  Level fall of 5cm to 10cm on high ground

Today’s forecast: Showery outbreaks of sleet and snow will continue to spread eastwards across the county this afternoon, giving a covering of 2cm to 5cm of snow in places. The sleet and snow is expected to ease for a time late afternoon. Further snow is expected through the evening and overnight tonight with the potential for some heavy snow between around 2100 and 0900 in the morning, up to 10cm to 15cm on high ground. Snow becoming lighter tomorrow.

Current/Recent Treatments:
East:      Treatment of key routes (main roads) continuing.  Fitting ploughs.  Driver crew change planned for 1900hrs.
West:  Treatment of key routes (main roads) continuing.  Fitting ploughs.  Driver crew change planned for 1900hrs.
Central:  Key routes (main roads) being completed at present.  Delays due to level of traffic on network.  New shift of drivers into depot at 19:00   

Proposed actions during the day:
East:     Spot salting and ploughing of key routes (main roads) to aid traffic movement
West:     Spot salting and ploughing of key routes (main roads) to aid traffic movement
Central:  Key routes underway at 14:00 but completion delayed due to traffic levels.

Network Risks:   
East: Majority of main roads passable with extreme care, side roads with a covering of snow, however A436 from Andoversford to the A429 near Bourton on Water.  Should be avoided, due to difficult driving conditions and abandoned vehicles.
A40 Cheltenham to Oxford, very heavy traffic, slow moving due to adverse weather conditions.
A429 Cirencester North, passable and now reasonably clear but some abandoned vehicles slowing traffic.

West:     B4432 Symonds Yat – closed All other routes passable with extreme care.
Central: Traffic throughout main routes of Gloucester clear and moving well.  Cheltenham some continued congestion. 
M5 Junction 13 into Stroud  and routes around Stroud remain very heavy.
A419 Cowcombe Hill in the process of being re-opened, police closure signs being removed.
Hill routes to Horsley, Selsley, Minchinhampton, Brimscombe Hill passable with extreme care,  Toadsmoor Hill passable with extreme care (media is indicating closed). 
Upton Hill B4073 closed.

Routes off main road network very difficult and will be impassable on any steep slopes.