Our road repair investment pays dividends – with more to come

Journeys on Oxfordshire’s roads have been significantly improved in recent months thanks to an extra £10m being spent this year on repairing and improving road surfaces.

Large resurfacing projects have been completed on key roads around Oxfordshire that were in real need of attention, including

• Kennington Road in Kennington

• Marston slip roads in Oxford,

• Seesen Way in Wantage,

• Shipton Road in Woodstock

County Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment, said: “In total these jobs along with others have resulted in more than 37,200 square metres of road being resurfaced and repaired improving the journeys of thousands of people each day.

“We listened to the views of residents about the state of the roads and our immediate investment will not stop but be followed a by a further £80m of work to undertake more repairs on key routes that will mean they stay in a healthy state for many years to come regardless of what winter weather throws at us.

“We are determined to improve the condition of our roads and we don’t want to let the well documented financial pressures that councils face get in our way. This all contributes to Oxfordshire having a thriving local economy via improved transport links.”

Extra government cash helps Oxfordshire roads

The government recently awarded the county council an extra £7.4m for road repairs to be used in what remains of the current financial year. County Councillor Constance explained: “This extra investment from the government is welcome and good news for Oxfordshire’s roads.

"Because the county council committed to spending an extra £10m on road repairs this year we are in a good position and the amount of work we have done means that we have effectively already invested the government money and will be able to roll forward extra investment to next year.”

Stopping potholes forming

Different methods of road repair and sealing are used to extend the life of our roads and reduce the likelihood of potholes forming. Surface dressing is probably the most familiar to people who will have seen the distinctive tar and chippings being laid on their travels, another is micro-asphalt which involves applying a thin base and top layer of sealant to the existing road surface to waterproof and improve the surface.

While the large micro and surface dressing is all done – meaning a total of more than 322,000 square metres of road has been improved – much smaller mini-resurfacing projects are still being done all around the county.

These repairs deal with localised areas of tired and failed tarmac and make a big difference on local roads. The teams are out all year round and will be helping to invest the extra £10m right up until the end of this financial year.

Councillor Constance added: “Big road repair projects tend to grab the headlines but there are scores of other smaller unsung projects underway at any one time and they all improve the overall condition of our roads. These are published daily on the council's news page and social media."