Council carries out £3M 'surface dressing' work on Leicestershire's roads
Drivers are being advised that the surfaces of roads across Leicestershire are being treated this summer as part of a £3M project.
Leicestershire County Council’s highways teams are carrying out their annual ‘surface dressing’ programme, with the preventative work applied on nearly 770,000 square metres of road, which is an equivalent area to almost 100 football pitches.
It involves applying a layer of bitumen followed by stone chippings, which are then embedded into the bitumen with rollers, helping to seal the road and extend its lifespan.
Surface dressing helps minimise potholes, keeps roads waterproof, increases resilience to adverse weather, improves road safety and reduces fuel consumption for motorists.
With nearly 9,000 potholes fixed in 2024, this summer gives the county council a chance to continue their work protecting the road network.
Councillor Charles Whitford, cabinet member for highways, transport and waste, said: “By taking action now, our highways teams can repair road surfaces, helping to prevent more difficult and expensive repairs later.
“We’re always thinking ahead when it comes to roads and by carrying out surface dressing every summer, we stand to increase the lifespan of our roads by up to 10 years.
“We thank our hard-working teams for making these necessary repairs every summer but also sincerely appreciate the patience of local residents, as we carry out important work in their area.”
The programme is carefully planned across various key routes and designed to keep disruption to a minimum.
Once it has been completed, the council’s team will start work on making roads safe for the harsh, colder months, such as gritting and monitoring road temperatures.
The surface dressing process involves a moving ‘train’ of maintenance vehicles, where a tanker sprays bitumen binder on a clean, dry road surface, then stone chippings are spread from a chipper following behind.
After a second spread of chippings from another lorry, a rolling machine embeds the stones into the bitumen.
Around 11,500 tonnes of stones will be used by the council’s teams as they carry out this work across the county, which relies on warmer, drier weather to ensure effective combining of materials.