Council to 'dress' 60 Shropshire roads to prevent potholes
More than 60 stretches of road across Shropshire are to be temporarily closed during the spring and summer while they are treated to prevent potholes in the winter months.
Shropshire Council’s annual surface dressing programme will see 66 roads, including 29 in north Shropshire, 24 in central Shropshire and 13 in south Shropshire "surface dressed".
They include all types of road, from urban cul-de-sacs to major A and B roads.
The authority says the treatment is a quick, efficient and cost-effective way of preventing potholes, maintaining skid-resistance and waterproofing road surfaces.
It involves applying and rolling aggregate ‘chippings’ onto a bitumen binder to seal the surface, improve surface texture and prolong the life of the road.
But the council has warned that due to the limited width of the majority of identified roads, over 90 per cent of the sites will require a temporary road closure for the works to be carried out safely. Where road closures are not necessary, other forms of temporary traffic management will be in place, including temporary signals.
Most of the road closures will only be required for a few hours for the dressing operation, which will be carried out between May and July, and are "unlikely to be of more than one day in duration".
Richard Marshall, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: “As well as improving and protecting our roads, this important programme of work plays a crucial role in helping to prevent potholes and other defects forming in the future.
"Pothole treatment is very much about prevention as well as cure and this is one important way that we can aim to prevent potholes forming next winter.”
The sites identified for treatment located across the county are listed at shropshire.gov.uk/roads-and-highways/highways-maintenance/resurfacing-and-surface-dressing/surface-dressing-programme-202324.