Essex Highways to mobilise extra crews thanks to government pothole funding

Roads across Essex are set to benefit from additional Government money to target potholes and improve highway maintenance.

Essex County Council’s share of a £200m national pot is yet to be confirmed, but the extra funds will be used to get Essex Highways’ teams into action early in 2018.

Residents will see six additional crews on the ground in January helping to improve the condition of the county’s roads.

Councillor Ian Grundy, Essex County Council cabinet member for highways, said:

“This additional money is very good news for road users in Essex.

“We have a good idea of roughly how much we will get, so we can move very quickly with our highways partner, Ringway Jacobs, to get extra crews out on our roads fixing potholes in January 2018.

“They can use their workforce and partner firms to mobilise new crews and vehicles at speed so residents feel the benefit of this extra funding as soon as possible.

“Highways crews have fixed more than 5,000 potholes already since April 2017 as well as resurfacing more than 400 miles of road.

“This money is timely and our rapid response will help deal with the extra potholes that often appear at this time of year as water gets into small cracks, freezes, expands and damages road surfaces.”

Essex Highways completed more than three million square metres of road surfacing during summer 2017 to help reduce the number of potholes developing on key routes.

As well as crews dedicated to fixing potholes, other crews carry out: resurfacing, streetlight repairs and replacement; safety improvements; emergency repairs; traffic light upgrades; white line repainting; drain clearance; pavement and kerb repairs; inspections; bridge repair; as well as seasonal verge cutting and footpath maintenance.

03 January 2018