VolkerHighways has fixed double the number of potholes in Bath and North East Somerset as during the whole of 2022, including using an ‘ultra eco-friendly’ thermal road repair system.
The company said it has taken action against potholes nationally through its ‘Project Pothole' initiative and had fixed almost 5,000 potholes so far this year under its term maintenance contract with Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council.
It said this is more than three times the number of potholes reports it had received this year, as part of a drive to address a backlog following harsh winter conditions.
VolkerHighways said that to save time and resource, it had agreed with the highway authority to work on a road-by-road basis, filling in all the potholes in one area, at a time. Works take place day and night, with two crews working most nights.
Alongside reactive repairs, the company has been running a thermal road repair programme to provide permanent repairs to large areas of surface. This ‘ultra eco-friendly’ thermal road repair system reheats the existing road surface, bringing it back to a workable state where it can be recycled and used again.
VolkerHighways also ran two four-weekly Roadmaster spray injection patching schemes throughout the year. This system prepares the site and delivers a mixture of aggregate and binder directly into the pothole or defect.
Operations director Jerry Pert said: ‘We are doing everything we can to reduce the number of potholes on our highway network in Bath and North East Somerset. Our approach is working well and providing the most value for money. Well done to our crews!’
BANES is spending almost £8m capital funding on its highway assets over 2023-24, including a £3.7m resurfacing programme, as well as improvements to highway structures, footways, street lighting, drainage and planned patching works.
