Shropshire Council say that the war against potholes and bad roads goes on

In total, 10,357 defects have been tackled since April 19, an average of more than 500 per week, with more being repaired every day.

Ninety six per cent of these repairs are permanent ‘right first time’ repairs, compared to 25 per cent 18 months ago.

As part of efforts to improve the county’s roads, crews from Shropshire Council and its contractor Kier are out across the county every day tackling potholes in a variety of ways.

Methods include the innovative new Texpatch process, which is being used to treat urban roads and provides a longer-lasting, smoother, neater finish compared to traditional pothole repairs

Work is also carried out using the new Mulithog road planer which treats potholes and other defects more quickly and effectively, reduces the likelihood of potholes forming in the short-to-medium term and cuts down on the need for road closures.

Four Roadmaster vehicles are being used to carry out jet-patching on rural roads. Roadmasters use compressed air to blow water or dirt out of a pothole that needs repairing and then fill it with hot bitumen and chippings. The repair is compacted by a roller and sealed with a layer of surface dressing, meaning a better quality of repair.

More traditional repairs by gangs are also carried out.

“These figures are really encouraging, and provide evidence of the work we’re carrying out every day to improve the county’s roads,” said Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member responsible for highways.

“There still are a lot of potholes and other defects in need of attention right across the county, but we’re working hard to tackle them and to make the county’s roads safer for all road users.”

It is important that as much work as possible is completed before the winter because when water gets into cracks and freezes, this makes the potholes worse.

The holes are also less visible to road users in the dark nights.