More than 20,000 potholes repaired in nine months

A Roadmaster tackling potholes in south Shropshire

Shropshire Council has repaired more than 20,000 potholes in the last nine months, latest figures show.

In total, 20,156 potholes have been tackled since 13 April 2021 – an average of more than 516 every week – 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.

Meanwhile, 49 stretches of road across Shropshire – measuring 143km – are being resurfaced between November 2021 and March 2022 as part of the council’s annual resurfacing programme – work that will help to prevent potholes forming in future.

And 60 stretches of road across Shropshire were treated last year as part of Shropshire Council’s annual surface dressing programme. The work covered 816,000 square metres of road.

Methods used to tackle potholes 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.

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.

“Hitting the 20,000 figure is a significant achievement, but there are still many more to be tackled and that’s what we’ll do.

“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.”

Peter Woodhead, general manager with Kier, said:

“Repairing 20,000 potholes within nine months is an outstanding achievement and, at times, has been challenging. It is testament to the work that our teams and our supply chain carry out. They are out there daily in all weathers carrying out repairs across the county’s roads, often with little acknowledgment. It is thanks to their efforts and the innovative repair methods we’re using that allows us to keep the county’s roads moving.”

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