In April 2016 the government announced details of a Pothole Action Fund, which allocated money to local authorities to be spent on fixing potholes or to stop the formation of potholes. As part of the fund, Northamptonshire received £711,000.
In line with the Department for Transport (DfT) guidance to promote greater transparency, we are publishing an annual progress report showing:
- details of how many potholes have been permanently repaired or the length of resurfacing that has taken place to stop the formation of potholes
- what we had originally budgeted to spend this financial year and how this additional funding has complemented the wider maintenance expenditure
This funding complements, rather than displaces, planned highway maintenance expenditure for 2016 to 2017. Our capital structural maintenance budget prior to the announcement of the pothole fund was £19,860,000 consisting of:
- £14,004,000 DfT maintenance grant
- £856,000 DfT incentive fund
- £5,000,000 Northamptonshire 'Invest to Save' capital borrowing
Total including the Pothole Action Fund: £20,571,000
Of the £19,860,000 we have already allocated £1,967,941 to deal with potholes. Consequently during 2016 to 2017 we have spent in total £2,678,941 dealing with or trying to stop the formation of potholes.
How did we spend the Pothole Action Fund?
We used the Pothole Action Fund to formulate 4 additional streams of work:
RoadMaster carriageway repair
This process enables us to deal with both existing potholes and with defects that do not currently meet intervention levels by utilizing innovative techniques. The process repairs carriageway potholes with more speed than traditional methods without compromising quality thereby giving efficiencies in highway maintenance. The system is suited to road maintenance in the April to September window.
Asphalt rejuvenation
To arrest the deterioration in the carriageway surface before it gets to the point of the formation of potholes we used two innovative products
Reclamite asphalt rejuvenation
A spray applied product which aims to restore the durability of the pavement. The product penetrates through the voids in the asphalt surface, strengthening the asphalt and aggregate bond.
CRF restorative seal
Similar to reclamite but with asphalt added. In addition to the emulsion itself, application of sand, limestone or granite screenings is added to the product to give additional binder strength. The screenings are worked into the pavement by the traffic creating a long term seal. The application of CRF can be used on roads which have previously been treated with reclamite, or on roads that are 7 to 10 years old in their lifecycle without any intervention.
Where did we spend the Pothole Action Fund?
The two additional work streams were targeted to the more rural areas, although trials of the RoadMaster Carriageway Repair system were used in urban areas. In total 19,026 potholes were repaired throughout the county using the RoadMaster Carriageway Repair system technique.
We have also carried out a programme to arrest the deterioration in the carriageway surface using reclamite and CRF in Brigstock treating a total of 8,988m2 which is equivalent to 1,500m (1 mile) in length.
Average cost
The average cost to repair a pothole with the RoadMaster Carriageway Repair is £40.97 which includes associated traffic management costs (the grant award anticipated we would fill 13,415 potholes at £53 each).
The process used (reclamite and CRF) in Brigstock to arrest the deterioration in the carriageway surface is equivalent to £33.11 per metre.
Outcomes to date
This investment has already reduced the backlog of repair and reduced our response time to all requests for pothole repairs.
Using traditional repair methods our existing capital maintenance budget £1,967,941 to deal with potholes, has repaired 40,198 defects in carriageways between April 2016 and March 2017.