An additional £5m ploughed into tackling potholes on Staffordshire’s roads is already seeing results.with more than 300 defects fixed across the county over the past week, and activities set to increase further thanks to the dry weather.
Added to this, local Staffordshire county councillors have also been making use of the extra £20,000 each of them has been allocated to help deal with more localised issues such as hotspot repairs, footway improvements or unblocking drains. The additional funding is part of a package of £30m of investment aimed at tackling road repairs and improving journeys.
Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport said: “Good roads are important for this council, for communities and for businesses, not just for getting us to where we need to be, but in underpinning a growing economy and supporting better access to jobs, education and housing.
“The wet weather we have had recently hasn’t helped our repair work. However, now that the weather has improved, our crews are pulling out all the stops to carry out hotspot repairs, gulley cleaning and surface dressing to ensure any issues are dealt with.”
In addition to the £30m funding for maintenance projects, wider investment including more than £2m from private developer contributions, will support improvements to several road safety schemes, create cycling paths and give better access to a number of railway stations across the county.
Talking about the extra £20,000 allocated to county councillors for local highway issues, Helen added: “No one knows local issues like your local county councillor, so they are ideally placed to know what needs doing and where. This extra money means those local jobs that have needed doing for a while can be addressed.
“With more than 6,000km of roads and 4,500km of footways, just keeping on top of maintaining the huge network is always going to be the challenge. That is why is so important that we make the best use of every pound we invest and focus where we can on schemes which deliver the best value and longer-term term benefits.”
You can find out which defects have been fixed, and where, by visiting www.staffordshire.gov.uk/potholes.
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1 comment
Andy Stone
Having driven along the A34 Stone Road in Stafford, where road repairs are currently being undertaken, I was astounded by the poor quality of the patches. The new surface is very bumpy.
I think the same everyone I drive over some older patches, done last year, on the A51 from Meaford towards Nantwich, and the northbound A34 by the Wayfarer at Stone.
When patches are repaired I would have thought that the minimum of quality assurance would take place to ensure the new patches are smooth and level, not uneven and bumpy. Why do the council let the contractors get a away with it?