Multi-million investment in highways helps prepare for harsh winter weather - but more potholes expected

Wiltshire Council is all set for the winter weather after multi-million pound investment in maintaining the county's roads.

Wiltshire Council spends around £20m per year on major maintenance including resurfacing 159km of roads in this financial year. 

In addition to road resurfacing there are larger repair works to ensure they are in the best possible condition to withstand the damage from the harsh British weather.

Wiltshire Council was allocated £7.3million from the Central Government Pothole Fund and it has also spent a further £500k on reactive highway maintenance to ensure people in the county have as smooth a journey as possible on Wiltshire's roads. 

However with high water levels this winter, there will inevitably be potholes on the roads and drivers are being reminded to report them so they can be dealt with swiftly by the highways team.

Drivers can report potholes by using the MyWilts app which can be downloaded on smart phones or accessed on the council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywiltshire-online-reporting.

The council's highways team work on smaller potholes by using a cold material which can be poured into the hole, or a number of hot material treatments that are used where deemed appropriate. These materials form a very hard surface, making the road safe.

For larger potholes the teams cut out a section of the road around the hole, clear out old material and fill it with only hot material.

If a road has a number or potholes it may require more substantial work or resurfacing which is where major works are undertaken.

Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet member of Highways said:

We keep regular checks on our roads and invest where we can to make sure they are in the best condition to deal with the the worst of the Wiltshire winter.

We know with high water levels we're likely to have more potholes so we'd encourage drivers to let us know if they see a pothole by using the MyWilts App so we can address these issues promptly. As always, we advise motorists to drive to the conditions.

To ensure Wiltshire's network is maintained at the highest possible standards every adopted road in Wiltshire is inspected at a frequency depending on their use.  Higher used roads receive a greater number of inspections.