HIGHWAYS chiefs say crews are “streets ahead” in their efforts to maintain roads across Staffordshire.
County council teams have carried out surface dressing on more than 250 sites since March.
The process involves structurally repairing carriageways before applying a new top surface, with highways bosses saying the treatment helps to repair and extend the lifespan of roads before they deteriorate too far.
Recent warm weather has allowed crews to get ahead of schedule, the county council’s cabinet support member for highways, Cllr Patrick Allen, said:
“Surface dressing is an important part of our maintenance programme. It takes roads that are already in a fair condition, improves their surface and can prolong their life by up to 15 years.
“Our surface dressing programme is also designed to cause the least disruption possible, being carried out usually under rolling road closures.
“It’s an impressive operation that requires precise coordination of all the elements, from the sprayer tanker applying the binder, to the chippings being applied, the site getting swept and the road markings being replaced.
“Our crews are working hard to make the most of the good weather we’ve been having, to get the very best results out of our preventative treatments and ensure more roads can get an essential treatment that will make them last longer.”
