Dorset Council’s specialist Phoenix vehicles are being put away for the winter following another successful year of surface dressing.
Over 18 weeks – from April to September – a team of highway workers travelled across the county treating roads to protect them from water damage and to improve skid resistance.
In total, 126 miles of road were refreshed, including 29 miles of the ‘main road’ network, with 15,000 tonnes of stone used and 1.8m litres of bitumen emulsion.
Residential roads were treated in Wareham as well as rural roads in the Blandford, Dorchester, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Sherborne and Sturminster Newton areas.
Premium surface dressing, which uses a finer grade stone on faster roads, was carried out on sections of the A37, A352, A354, A353, A357 and A356 by Eurovia Specialist Treatments.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Cabinet member for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“Each year we invest around three-million-pounds to improve road condition using surface dressing, which is an effective treatment where the top road layer is worn.
“This is used alongside resurfacing – used where deeper road layers are damaged – to ensure we are spending the money we have in the most efficient way.
“Roads are the lifeline for businesses and communities and we will continue to maintain them in line with the resources we have available.”
Planned road maintenance work is continuing within the Dorset Council area, as is reactive pothole repair work. Community highway officers carry out regular inspections of roads as well as responding to reports made by residents.
Potholes are prioritised for repair based on location, size, depth and the category of road it’s on – a pothole on an A class road will be fixed quicker than a similar pothole on a C or D class road. Every effort is made to repair potholes within 28 days.
You can report a problem with any aspect of the highway online.
If this is what did on Wellington Road Bournemouth it didn’t work. Road looks like it was just tarred and chipping put on it, it didn’t fill the holes in. Waste of our money.
Sir
What is the point of surface dressing? It does not address any issues such as pot holes , dips around drains ridges etc and ensures a very dangerous surface for cyclists and motorcyclists for weeks after the gravel gets put down. I remain to be convinced this is a good use of money.
Regards
Thanks and congratulations for the resurfacing work around Blandford and for the brilliant work on Durweston and Blandford bridges.
So is 1 mile of repairs a day (only top dressing) something to be proud of when the counties roads are in such a dire need of repair, replacement, and upgrading?