Repairing Bury’s roads with a simple 4 step process

Repairing Bury’s roads with a simple 4 step process

Following successful trials and in a bid to tackle pot holes and improve the borough’s roads, Bury Council has invested almost £140k in new machinery for its Operations workforce.

The new innovative spray injection patching machinery will help tackle potholes and worn surfaces more swiftly, at less cost and with less disruption to traffic.

The £140k investment is an add-on and complementary to the extra £10 million already being invested locally in borough-wide road improvement schemes.

Councillor Alan Quinn, Cabinet Member for the Environment said:“With this new, more efficient machinery a crew can now carry out up to 100 pothole repairs per day.Previously, using traditional methods, a crew could only repair around 15 potholes per day.

“And repairing pot holes faster isn’t the only benefit.No excavation or tipping is involved, there’s less C02 because the patching material is cold applied, and our roads are re-opened to traffic much more quickly.

“Under-funding of roads is widespread, but in Bury we need at least £6m per year to keep our 660km road network in good condition.Unfortunately, we only receive £2 m from the Government.This accumulated over the last 8 years has had a severe and damaging effect on local roads.

“Extra local investment such as this is a step in the right direction towards providing better roads for our communities.”

When in action the new patching machine follows a simple 4 step process to complete a pothole repair in one smooth operation.

• Step 1 – Cleaning:A high volume blower is used to clean out all loose debris and water from the pothole.
• Step 2 – Preparation:The machine coats the pothole with asphalt emulsion which seals the pot hole and prevents further damage.
• Step 3 – Filling:Aggregate and asphalt emulsion is sprayed into the hole or worn edging.
• Step 4 – Sealing:The wet top of the repaired area is protected from traffic flow with a dry layer of sprayed aggregate.

Pot holes can be reported to Bury Council online at www.bury.gov.uk/reportaproblem

ENDS

Photograph

From left to right:Tom Rothwell (Operations workforce), Councillor Alan Quinn (Cabinet Member for the Environment), Neville Keyworth (Senior Supervisor Operations)