Highways teams begin Leicestershire roads summer maintenance programme

A Leicestershire County Council's highways team carries out summer maintenance on a local roadA Leicestershire County Council's highways team carries out summer maintenance on a local road
A Leicestershire County Council's highways team carries out summer maintenance on a local road
Highways teams are about to launch their extensive programme of summer maintenance on the Leicestershire road network.

County Hall is spending £2.7 million dropping ‘surface dressing’ on more than 760,000 square metres of road – the equivalent of more than 100 football pitches.

Over the next few weeks, motorists will notice the many roads they use every day being covered with a layer of chippings.

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Surface dressing is applied in a moving ‘train’, 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.

While some loose stones can remain on the road surface for about a week, the council now has a sweeping programme in place following the new surface dressing to combat this.

Around 11,000 tonnes of stones will be used as they carry out this work across the county.

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Surface dressing is carried out throughout summer until the end of August, as the process relies on warm, dry weather to allow materials to embed into the road surface more easily.

Roads in the Melton area due to be treated are at Asfordby, Croxton Kerrial, Harston, Kirby Bellars, Knipton, Leesthorpe, Little Dalby, Wymeswold, Thurmaston and Barkby.

Councillor Ozzy O'Shea, cabinet member for highways and transport said: “Surface dressing helps improve the condition of our roads across the county, saving the council money by proactively repairing surfaces, which helps to prevent more costly repairs further down the line.

“Working hard to maintain and preserve more than 2,700 miles of road, our expert team ensures that Leicestershire motorists keep moving all year round.

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“In our highways’ teams, planning ahead is hugely important - implementing surface dressing every summer helps to increase the lifespan of our roads by up to ten years.

“We thank our teams for working so hard on this operation but we also appreciate the support of residents, who help make our job easier when we work in their local areas.”

The council’s programme of work doesn’t stop after the summer period – next, it’s time to start preparing roads for the harsher weather months, including gritting.

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