Derbyshire County Council are starting their major road resurfacing programme.
The council look after around 3,500 miles of roads and pavements and are set to surface dress around 80 miles of roads by the end of August. This year they will spend £10 million on surface dressing and road resurfacing.
Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, said:
“We know that keeping our roads and pavements in good condition is a top priority for local people so over the next few months our contractors will be busy across the county.
“The summer months are when we carry out our surface dressing programme as we need better weather conditions.
“Surface dressing helps to extend the life of a road surface and helps to prevent potholes.
“We’re also going to be making vital repairs to pavements across Derbyshire. Spending over £3 million, pavements will be resurfaced in over 50 places, with a further 100 locations being sealed to prevent future damage.
“I’d like to thank residents and visitors to the county in advance for their patience and understanding while these improvement works take place.”
To make work more efficient the jobs have been grouped together so that all those in an area are carried out at around the same time.
Surface dressing is a technique that extends the life of a road surface between 10 to 15 years. First any potholes are mended, then a layer of bitumen is laid which acts as the glue for the chippings that are rolled on top.
Driving over the chippings helps to further bed them in and any loose chippings are then swept away several weeks later.
Roads can only be surface dressed when the weather is warmer and the materials can bind together more effectively and the chippings are less likely to be washed away by rain.
Each month we publish a list of which roads are being surface dressed and resurfaced.
You can also report potholes and other road defects. A reference number will be generated so progress of the fix can be tracked.
