Council starts road surface dressing programme on borough’s roads
Cheshire West and Chester Council has started this year’s surface dressing programme which will help to prolong the operational life of roads and avoid the need for expensive future repairs and roadworks.
The process involves applying a thin layer of bitumen (known as a binder) and then covering it with loose stone chippings. The dressing is then rolled, which together with the actions of slow-moving traffic, embeds the stone chips into the road surface.
Traffic can be allowed to run on the new surface almost immediately, avoiding lengthy closures and disruption. Also, the speed with which it can be laid reduces delays to traffic.
The work is carried out in four stages: getting the road ready, laying the new surface, sealing it, and then putting road markings and studs back in place. These stages need careful planning, and bad weather or incidents on other roads nearby can sometimes mean plans change at short notice.
The Council’s Highways service uses preventative treatments where possible. This means the life of the existing road surface is prolonged, which costs less than allowing it to fail to the point where costly structural maintenance is then needed.
The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways, Councillor Karen Shore said:
Our approach to highways maintenance is proactive rather than reactive to keep the borough’s road network moving smoothly. It’s called an asset management approach, which involves a systematic approach to managing road assets throughout their lifecycle. This is especially key on our major A road network, as preventative surface treatments take only a couple of days to complete (depending on how big the site is) before the road can be re-opened to traffic, whereas full resurfacing or structural repairs would mean that a road is closed for a far longer period of disruption.
Surface treatment works are predominantly summer month programmes of work, due to the product being temperamental to both weather and temperature.
Surface dressing, in particular, is a daytime working process as night-time working can bring rain and/or moisture which can be a cause the product to ‘fail’.
Also, night-time working can be dangerous, as working methods in the dark can be a cause of accidents – especially as these sites tend to stretch along long lengths of carriageway, so the use of tower lights is not feasible.
Cllr Shore added:
Funding to 2029/30 is projected to increase but the demands on our highway maintenance budget far outpaces the funding available to address them, so difficult choices do need to be made about which roads are treated and when. Our Asset Management team provides a list of schemes based on a yearly survey. This list prioritises sites to be treated. Our Contract Delivery team, Colas and our supply partners, then work together to procure these schemes.
More information on the Council’s Highways Asset Management Strategy is on the website.
The current surface dressing programme is on the Council’s website. Surface dressing is a weather sensitive process and works can be delayed by both wet, cold and very hot weather.
Things to be aware of if surface dressing is happening near you - during the early life of the surface dressing:
- The bitumen used can become soft again during very warm weather.
- Bitumen and chippings could be picked up on footwear, wheelchairs, pushchairs, pets’ paws and carried into houses.
- The carriageway is safe to drive on following application of the stone chippings, provided speeds remain below 20mph. For your safety and the safety of others, please drive slowly, keep your distance, avoid turning or braking sharply and do not overtake.
- Contractors will sweep the road and footpaths to remove loose chippings before the road is opened to traffic again.
- Contractors then return to remove loose chipping again as follows:
- 24 hours after the road opens,
- Then three to four days after,
- Then again seven days after.
When the current surface dressing programme ends, a new schedule of structural repairs and footway works will then take place across the borough. More details will appear on the Council’s website soon.