Big increase in road repairs as council injects millions into improvements

Repairs and improvements on Oxfordshire’s roads continue with more than 34,000 potholes repaired over the last year, a 45 per cent increase on the previous year - and there’s more major repairs to come over the summer.

This year and last the county council invested millions of pounds over and above its usual budget so that it can do more repairs and resurfacing projects - and the strategy is paying off with 34,159 potholes repaired compared to 23,486 the year before.

Extra investment means better roads

The county council recently announced an extra £13m for road maintenance for this financial year on top of its existing £18.5m programme of work – this follows last year’s additional £12m boost.

Last year’s extra cash saw more than 37 extra miles of road being resurfaced through a range of methods which also included surface dressing and micro-asphalting – both of which make road surfaces waterproof and extend their life.

This year’s additional money will be spent across Oxfordshire’s towns and villages on resurfacing, drainage, bridge repairs and footways.

The council’s road repair crews have also been busy fixing other ‘defects’ on the roads, too – over 42,000 in total in 2018, an average of 3,500 a month.

Changing for the better

County Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment, said: “In Oxfordshire we have taken steps to listen to residents’ concerns by increasing the numbers of workers on the roads, bringing in and additional Dragon Patcher, and our focusing on reports made by the public on FixMyStreet.

“We are now looking to the future and meticulously planning our improvement schemes over a longer period is vital to ensure we see real change in Oxfordshire.

“We appreciate the standards our residents expect and are serious about getting things right. The additional £12m we invested in 2018 is testament to that as is the extra £13m we will spend this year.

“It’s been great to see the fantastic work that has been done and credit must go to the staff working for the council and our contractors at Skanska.”

Summer work already begun

A £3.5m programme of surface dressing – a technique that seals and extends the life of road surfaces – is underway now across Oxfordshire. Around 50 miles of road will be improved this year through this technique alone. A further £676,000 is to be spent on micro-asphalting – a similar technique to surface dressing.

The county council also has a £5.375m programme of major resurfacing work planned across the county with sites in Oxford, Charlbury, Faringdon, Wantage, Benson, Eynsham, Wantage and Banbury lined up for the coming months.

A further £9.65m has been budgeted for patching work. This is small scale resurfacing which takes care of localised problems where full resurfacing is not necessary. This approach makes the most of the money available for road repairs and can help prepare the roads for surface dressing or micro-asphalting the following year.

Last year’s extra cash investment saw more than 37 extra miles of road being resurfaced through a range of methods which also included surface dressing and micro-asphalting – both of which make road surfaces waterproof and extend their life.

This year’s additional money will be spent across Oxfordshire on resurfacing, drainage, bridge repairs and footways.

Meet the team

Repairing roads in Oxfordshire’s thriving communities is a year-round activity. And while everyone knows the roads they use well, they probably don’t know much about the people who turn out in all weathers to carry out repairs and maintenance.

Take a look a this video to find out more about what a day in the life of a pothole repair team is like.

Help us to fix more faults

To fix more problems on the roads we need your help. The best way to tell us if you find a ‘defect’ is to report it directly to us via Fix My Street. But what exactly is a defect?

Any problem you find on the roads including potholes, blocked drains, damaged signs, missing or worn lines or broken street lights all count.

When your report is received our team take a look at what you’ve highlighted and include it on a list for inspection when a decision can be made as to the best course of action. Why not take a look at Fix My Street now to see what’s been reported and repaired in your area?