Dorset Highways’ surface dressing programme gets underway this month – with around 150 roads on the list for treatment.
On Tuesday 23 April, the surface dressing crew of around 20 people, two purpose built chipping spreaders, one spray tanker, six lorries feeding chippings and two suction road sweepers will gather in Wareham to kick-off Dorset Council’s five-month programme of work.
Surface dressing provides a seal against water damage, which is responsible for the freeze/thaw effect that causes potholes, and it restores skid resistance.
Matthew Piles, Service Director for Environment, Infrastructure and Economy, said: “Unfortunately it’s a bit of a misconception that surface dressing is a quick fix or low-quality substitute for surfacing.
“The reality is that this treatment is an ideal way to restore road surfaces where the road is in an otherwise good condition, rather than spending money on resurfacing and removing perfectly healthy layers of road.”
Due to the size of the equipment, and the number of vehicles involved, roads are closed during surface dressing – which takes one to two hours depending on the length of the road – but cars can drive on the surface as soon as the work is finished.
In urban areas, working hours are from 9am to 4pm and 8am to 4pm in rural areas.
Matthew continued: “If you live in Wareham, please look out for our yellow advance warning signs which will tell you the date your road is due to be treated and, if you park on the road, please move your car before 9am to ensure we can complete the work.”
Surface dressing can only be carried out when the road is dry. When it rains, the work must stop – changing dates across the whole programme of work. A weekly list of sites will be published online to ensure residents are kept up-to-date.
