Shropshire Council repairs 15,000 potholes in six months

The Roadmaster in action near the village of Mardu, south Shropshire, on 15 October 2021

Shropshire Council has repaired more than 15,000 potholes in the last six months, latest figures show.

In total, 15,189 potholes have been tackled since 19 April 2021 – an average of more than 2500 every month – with more being repaired every day.

As part of efforts to improve the county’s roads, crews from Shropshire Council and its contractor Kier are out across the county every day tackling potholes in a variety of ways.

Methods include the innovative new Texpatch process, which is being used to treat urban roads and provides a longer-lasting, smoother, neater finish compared to traditional pothole repairs

Work is also carried out using the new Multihog road planer which treats potholes and  other defects more quickly and effectively, reduces the likelihood of potholes forming in the short-to-medium term and cuts down on the need for road closures.

The Multihog

And four Roadmaster vehicles (pictured above) are being used to carry out jet-patching on rural roads. Roadmasters use compressed air to blow water or dirt out of a pothole that needs repairing and then fill it with hot bitumen and chippings. The repair is compacted by a roller and sealed with a layer of surface dressing – meaning a better quality of repair.

More traditional repairs by gangs are also carried out.

Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways, said:

“These figures are really encouraging, and provide further evidence of the work we’re carrying out every day to repair the county’s roads, and the progress that we’re making.

“We’ve made a commitment to improve the county’s roads, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. I want to say a big thank you to all the staff from Shropshire Council and from our partners Kier and WSP for all their continued hard work – it really is making a difference.

“We know that there are still are a lot of potholes and other defects in need of attention right across the county, but we’ll continue to work hard to tackle them and to make the county’s roads safer for all road users.”

For more information visit www.shropshire.gov.uk/highways