Dorset County Council’s highway fixers will be treating more of Dorset’s damaged roads thanks to extra funding.
Starting this month, Dorset Highways will have three resurfacing gangs in action repairing 53 sites across the county up to the end of March.
The sites have been identified from inspections by community highway officers, with the site-specific treatments designed by Dorset Highway engineers.
Councillor Daryl Turner, Cabinet member for the natural and built environment, said: “Last September, Cabinet approved additional money to go into highway maintenance and we’re now seeing that funding in use alongside extra money from the Department for Transport.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into investigating road damage and designing the right repair to maximise our resources – trying to fix as many defects as we can with the money available.
“The next three months of work will make a significant difference to the condition of our road network and will feed into our other programmes of work, such as surface dressing.”
Additional drainage work is also taking place, with a dedicated gang funded to investigate known historic issues.
The team will be working across the county, initially targeting the following areas:
* C5, Corfe Mullen
* C2, Castleman Trailway
* B3072, Three Legged Cross
* B3067, Lytchett Minster
* C6, Bere Regis
Most of these flooding issues will be resolved through high pressure jetting of blocked pipes, clearing grips, emptying existing ditches and cutting new ditches.
Larger scale drainage schemes are also being investigated, with the aim of designing schemes during the year, for:
* Thornhill Road, Stalbridge
* Clarendon Close, Gillingham
* Front Street, East Stour
* Knobcrook Road, Wimborne
* Broaden Bridge, Broadoak
An extra gully emptier is also in action across the county to clear more drainage channels on Dorset’s C and D class roads. This will help prevent flooding – ensuring rural communities remain connected during the winter – and will protect roads from water damage.
Five area-based hand-patching gangs, a NuPhalt Thermal Repair patching team and a velocity patcher gang are continuing to fix smaller potholes and road defects, as they are reported, across the county council area.
You can report road issues online at a time convenient to you.
