Repair teams keep on top of the road damage

Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transport Mark Shaw on tour with a road repair team Mark Shaw and Transport Services Director Mike Freestone watch road resurfacing work

Despite a milder winter, the combination of rain and frost continues to inflict damage on Buckinghamshire’s roads. And repair teams arestriving to get around the county’s 2,000 miles of roads to fix the defects.

In the first month of 2016, Transport for Buckinghamshire’s 12 repair teams dealt with 2,110 reported road defects across the county, compared with a monthly average of 1,556 last year.

Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council’s Transport Cabinet Member, said: ‘The winter weather really does play havoc with our road surfaces, but we’re working hard to fix things. I’ve nothing but admiration for our repair teams, who’ve pulled out all the stops to keep on top of the repairs.’

Frost damage to road surfaces is exacerbated by rain, which attacks any weaknesses and create defects. The irony, says Mark, is that winter creates more damage, but summer is the best time to repair it.

‘We’re continuing to prioritise urgent repairs to road damage on busier routes,’ he said. ‘Looking at my email inbox, I’m grateful for residents’ understanding of the challenge facing our teams, and for their patience as we tackle repairs day by day.’

He urged residents and motorists to continue reporting road damage using the council’s online reporting tool at www.buckscc.gov.uk/telltfb
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Mark said the county’s road resurfacing programme, paused during the winter weather, restarted this week (w/b Feb 8). The Council is investing £14.8 million in the roads structural maintenance in 2016/17, following a very successful record £25m spend this year.

So far this winter, milder temperatures have almost halved the number of road salting runs needed. From October until the beginning of February, there have been 20 outings by the 25-strong gritter force north of the county, and 21 in the south. During the same period last year there were42 runs in the north of the county and 35 in the south.

With a forecast drop in temperatures tonight (Monday February 8) gritters will be out throughout the county salting precautionary routes.