Staffordshire fixes roads, repairing 153 potholes daily for ten months, cleaning gullies, and investing £8 million to improve roads.
The plan aimed to fix road problems faster and improve drainage systems. They invested almost £8 million in this project, in addition to money for regular road work.
A council meeting gave an update on road repairs. They have repaired 30% more potholes this year and cleaned 20% more gullies.
The road repair campaign is moving fast. They started the recovery program in March last year after discovering a big road problem. So, they invested more money fast, focusing on customer needs.
More work remains. By year’s end, they will fix 35,000 potholes and empty 60,000 gullies. Plus, they already resurfaced 37 roads and surface dressed 587 roads, which helps roads last longer.
The work sometimes causes traffic delays, but they are doing a lot of work. Winter weather made repairs harder. They did not expect so many new problems.
Overall, response times improved this year. The council thinks they are on the right track. Claims decreased by 28%, defect reports dropped by 29%, and customer satisfaction went up 25%.
One council member spoke about ditches, worrying about water runoff from farms that damages roads. Fixing ditch problems might help the situation.
The council focuses more on drainage now, as potholes often come from water damage. Weather changes cause more drainage issues. They need to clean more gullies and find and fix drainage problems. They want residents to help maintain drainage too, as many people are now reporting floods.