07/03/2022 - Permalink

Multihog machines to tackle more potholes across Shropshire this month

Related topics: Highways, transport and environmental maintenance / Partner organisations

A Multihog in action near Ludlow in February 2022

Shropshire Council’s new Multihog road planer machines will be tackling more potholes and other defects on roads across Shropshire this month [March 2022]

The Multevo Multihog planes off the road surface to enable a squared-off hole to be filled by a following gang. It’s quicker than having to saw-cut and break-out the defective road by hand – tackling potholes and other defects more quickly and effectively

Using the Multihog the council can reduce the likelihood of potholes forming in the short- to-medium term and cut down on the need for road closures.

This month the Multihog will be treating the following roads:

Crew one (north)

  • 28 February to 11 March – Ash Lane to The Townsend junction
  • 14 to 28 March – A442 Radmoor Crossroads to county boundary
  • 29 March to 11 April – Wem to Tilstock

Crew two (south)

  • 7 March – B4363 Billingsley
  • 8 to 11 March – B4363 from B4555 to B4194 junction
  • 14  to 18 March – to be confirmed
  • 21 March – B4176 Chesterton
  • 22 to 25 March – Labrador to Sunrise Cottage (near Kinlet)
  • 28 to 29 March – B4363 Kinlet B4194 junction to B4199 junction
  • 30 March to 1 April – Richards Castle, Overton Road

Crew three (south)

  • 2 to 5 March – B4364 Telegraph Lane junction to A458 Bridgnorth
  • 7 to 11 March – Oreton Road
  • 14 to 15 March – B4367 Hopton Heath
  • 16 to 17 March – B4385 county boundary to Redwood
  • 18 March – B4367 Broome Road, Clungunford
  • 21 to 25 March – Chapel Lawn
  • 28 March to 1 April – A4117 Tenbury Road to Office Lane

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

“The Multihog is a hugely important part of our work to tackle potholes and improve the county’s roads. Since we started using it last year use of the Multihog has shown a dramatic improvement in permanent road repairs, and it now forms an important part of our strategy to deliver meaningful repairs to roads across Shropshire.”

Since the Multihog was officially adopted in late March 2021, the volume of the road network repaired has risen to around 150m² per gang each day, with three teams deployed across the county. This means an average of 9,000m² of road can be treated each month.

Other 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.

And four Roadmaster vehicles are being used to carry out jet-patching on rural roads.

More traditional repairs by gangs are also carried out.

Since April 2021, more than 21,000 potholes have been repaired across the Shropshire Council area.

You can find out more about the use of the Multithog in Shropshire in this short video.