Work continues to prolong the life of our roads. Later this June, the areas listed below will receive surface dressing.
Working times will be between 5am and 6pm and letters are sent to those farms, schools and businesses affected, with advice on road closures, suspension of on-street parking and any required diversions during these hours. We thank everyone in advance for their support and patience.
Surface dressing prolongs the life of roads by providing a waterproof seal, while also improving skid resistance. It is a vital part of our annual road maintenance programme, alongside patching, micro-surfacing, in-situ recycling, road preservation and resurfacing.
This year, around 400,000m² (approximately 95 miles) of road will be treated with surface dressing.
From Monday 26 June
B3164, Thomas Hardye country/Cockpit Hill, Broadwindsor to Bettiscombe junction
Sixpenny Handley – various roads
A350 – Blandford Road Iwerne Minster to Main Road Sutton Waldron
From Monday 3 July
A350 – Blandford Road Iwerne Minster to Main Road Sutton Waldron continues
Churchfoot Lane, Hazelbury Bryan
Buckland Newton – various roads
Various roads in Lower Ansty, Hilton, Milton Abbas, Stoke Wake and Woolland
Further sites will be communicated once work has been confirmed. In the meantime, see all roadworks on our map.
What is surface dressing?
It is a quick process, with bitumen binder sprayed onto the road to seal it against water damage and stone chippings spread onto this to restore grip, with these compacted down with a roller.
Drivers can travel on the road as soon as the work is finished, with slow moving vehicles helping to further embed the stone chippings.
A sweeper travels along the road within 48 hours to clear any immediate surplus stone, with line markings reinstated shortly afterwards.
Surface dressing relies on the evaporation of water from the bitumen binder (glue) for it to set, so can only be carried out in dry weather.
As the work is highly weather dependent, residents are being asked to look out for yellow advance warning signs in their area which will provide the most accurate information.
Working times will be between the hours of 5am and 6pm. Work cannot take place at night due to the necessary evaporation process and will not be carried out over the weekend or on Bank Holidays.
Hello,
I live at 26, Compton Cres, West moors, Dorset, and the road surface is terrible
BH220BZ.
PLEASE could you consider re-dressing this road
Thankyou
Hi Nicky, please can you report it on this form: https://dorset-self.achieveservice.com/service/Report-other-highways-issue Thank you, Claire
Why do I receive this email so late it always arrives 5days after the start date… Not much help when planning journeys
Hello Philippa, are you signed up to our Travel and Transport e-newsletter as this will provide information in advance of our resurfacing works? The best way to see information about all the roadworks that are planned in the area, including Dorset Council works, telecoms, water, gas and much more, is by checking our online map. Our Live Travel Updates page also gives you the latest incidents, congestion etc. Here are all the links: Sign up to Travel and Transport e-news: https://dorsetcouncil.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c39535cf4f9d1ca66af8d2b44&id=bc36c80975 See the roadworks map: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/travel/travel-dorset/roadworks-road-closures See live travel incidents: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/travel/travel-dorset/live-travel-updates Claire
Many thanks for all the quality patching work done recently in Marnhull DT10. Makes for comfortable cycling!
Once again the Dorset Council have ignored the A35 night road closures
as though it never passes through Dorset. I appreciate it is a DOT road but is the only east west trunk road apart from the A30 and has a direct impact on rate payers. Perhaps we don’t count!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Brian, I’m sorry for the inconvenience the A35 road closure caused you. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity in the communications team to publicise every road closure via our e-newsletters. As we recommend in the travel and transport e-newsletter and related news, readers can go to our online map to view all planned roadworks across the Dorset Council area, including works undertaken by water, gas and telecoms companies, National Highways and other organisations: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/travel/travel-dorset/roadworks-road-closures Best regards, Claire
We were not advised, in advance, of the road surface work being carried out on the A350, Iwerne Minster. We found this out when we left home to go out ….I actually live on the A350. So when we returned home the resurfacing had been completed and it looked liked a good job. However this morning we have had numerous road sweepers ( easily in excess of 20 times) going past our house throwing up clouds of dust….sometimes the dust was so thick you could barely see across the road. This roughly started before 9am and is still continuing (1pm). I am amazed that residents were not warned of this, it is a health hazard…. I am an asthmatic and can feel the dust on the back of my throat, it is very unpleasant. Finally I would like to add that the surface of road does not look as good as it did yesterday with some black patches now showing.
Hi Carol, we included the works in our e-newsletter of 24 June and there should have been yellow signs advising of the forthcoming work too, so I will feed back your comments to the Highways team. Claire https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/2023/06/23/dorset-road-fix-surface-dressing-from-26-june/