Temporary resurfacing of roads will continue

1:00pm Thursday 19th July 2012 in News By Tom Edwards

Temporary resurfacing of roads will continue Temporary resurfacing of roads will continue

CONTROVERSIAL surface dressing will carry on in Worcestershire, despite the county’s roads chief admitting the policy is unpopular with people.

Back in April a £3.8 million project was launched to treat more than 350 routes with the temporary method of resurfacing.

Surface dressing is an alternative to full-scale resurfacing of potholed routes, and is meant to prolong the life of a road for eight to 10 years.

Councillor John Smith, cabinet member for highways and transport, has admitted the policy would never win over everyone.

He said: “When we started the surface dressing programme, people said, ‘What are you doing that for’ and it was hard to win everyone over. But we went ahead and did it on the basis that it’s a solution which lasts eight to 10 years. Now we’ve explained it I believe people are happier with it.

“But you can’t satisfy everyone and there will always be those who want more. It’s a balancing act and people can be critical.”

His comments were made during a meeting of the environment and economy scrutiny panel at County Hall, where concerns were made that the rainy summer is hampering the work.

Councillor Emma Moffett said: “I do worry if the wet weather we are having is causing problems.”

A report before the committee suggested only 42 per cent of people surveyed were fairly or very satisfied” with the condition of Worcestershire’s roads.

April was the wettest on record, meaning highways staff quickly fell behind on the schedule, but more than 150 roads have had surface dressing so far.

The Conservative leadership has said costs can fall by 80 per cent when staff do surface dressing instead of full-scale repairs. This also allows more roads to be improved at the same time.

When it comes to pothole repairs, 13,500 have been filled in over the last year.

The year before, the tally was 33,000, but that was a result of sub-zero temperatures for weeks on end.

Comments(6)

Eribiste says...
1:11pm Thu 19 Jul 12

This surface dressing piffle is disgraceful; it wasn't good enough in the last century, and is absolutely not appropriate in a developed nation this century, even one as poor as the UK. not only is it ineffective, it's downright dangerous, especially for motorcyclists and pedal cyclists. Car drivers also have to remove profuse tar spots and repair stone damage as a consequence. It's really not on, stop it.

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beerman says...
2:14pm Thu 19 Jul 12

eribiste, totally agree with you 100%, not only tar stuck to the car (which is difficult to move), but stone chips on the paintwork as well, if i put a repair bill into the council it would be filed straight in the bin, i travel the up and down the uk 5 days a week, this seems to be the only council that puts this muck down, 1 council was advised a few years ago to stop this practice as you put it, " it's downright dangerous, especially for motorcyclists and pedal cyclists."also to properties close to the road, they even have the cheek to let the motorists settle it down as well instead of using a road roller properly, it needs everyone to sue them for damage to vehicles, properties, etc, then they might listen, i do not pay my road tax for this!

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uptonX says...
7:36pm Thu 19 Jul 12

As has been said above, surface dressing is a waste of time and money and could be considered dangerous, That's which is why most councils have stopped doing it, as always Worcestershire lag behind. We all understand resources are limited and will be for the foresable future so it's even more important to prioritise and do it once and do it right.

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DEMRICS says...
7:53pm Thu 19 Jul 12

So, the council are wasting £3.8m of tax payer's money on temporary resurfacing which will only last 8 to 10 years, instead of spending the money on proper resurfacing where the road surface is planed off and a new layer of tarmac is laid, and which will last for much longer. And the fact that there is an admission that proper resurfacing is classed as full-scale repairs is an admission that surface dressing is a temporary solution. And when the surafce dressing fails in 8 to 10 years time, they'll need to resurfacing the road again and again, incurring further costs, so effectively we'd see the council paying out twice, three times, may be more. Yet if they done a proper job, the roads wouldn't need resurfacing for say 20, 30 years if done properly.

How on earth can the highways department get away with this? This is a blatant misuse of valuable resources and yet the council admit it. This is scandalous and the highway engineers responsible should be held accountable as well as sacked. This is another example of incompetence from the highways department which seems to be never ending.

The fact that only 42% people of are happy with Worcestershire's roads says it all, yet the council will not listen one jot and will quite merilly plough on with delivering incompetence at the tax payer's expense.

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New Kid on the Block says...
7:55pm Thu 19 Jul 12

Perhaps Councillor Smith could give us some examples of where this technique has extended the life of a road by 8 to 10 years.
Most of us would regard it as a very short term stopgap with nothing like this sort of lifespan.
Immediately after this treatment roads are dangerous for those on two wheels and unpleasant for everyone else. Once they settle down and the the loose grit is washed away you are left with a surface little better than what was there before. This then rapidly deteriorates.
Machinery is available that will rapidly resurface large amounts of road to a high standard. Have a look at what is used in scandinavian countries. Yes, the machinery must be expensive but the roads are resurfaced rapidly and properly giving a long lasting surface that doesn't crumble at the first sign of winter.

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Gambit74 says...
7:12pm Thu 2 Aug 12

What are you doing!!!
I travel down Hindlip lane every day (connecting A38 to A4536 by the Merc garage) in a sports car.
Now this road has had several repairs this year and had become quite acceptable... Then the muppets on the council, did the worst job ever of resurfacing and just chucked the stones on top, leaving the cars to roll it. I had tar spots as high as my door window after driving on that cr** and the road has had to be redone since, because the cars had worn the stones away on the bends leaving shiny patches. I used an entire bottle of autoglym tar remover to clean the car after that.
And now we get to Cotswold Way (B4639) What in the hell!!!
I travel that stretch of road twice a day, five days a week, in my sports car. It was fine, the road was smooth and in good shape. Now it's like driving the concrete stretch of the m42 with all the cross joining. It's grey, dusty, covered with loose stones. God help any cyclist you pass, the poor sod doesn't stand a chance and gets peppered with stones.
Please, please, please, STOP ruining the roads!

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