New pothole fixers are trialle
County Hall bosses have revealed the trials, which started this week, will be used to assess whether new state-of-the-art techniques for repairing roads can be rolled out across Northamptonshire.
The three different methods are being rated against each other in terms of quality, value for money and the amount of disruption caused.
Councillor Heather Smith, cabinet member for environment and transport, said the trials could help the cash-strapped authority deal with the “huge problem” of potholes.
She said: “Temporarily repairing potholes is up to 10 times less efficient than a single permanent repair.
These trials will show us the effectiveness and efficiency of applying a properly planned, single-patch repair to address several potholes at once.”
Earlier this year County Hall bosses warned it was likely to cost more than A[pounds sterling]120 million and take 10 years to bring the county’s ravaged roads up to scratch, following this year’s sub-zero winter.
The authority’s team of road workers also abandoned attempts to meet national targets of fixing the most serious potholes within 24 hours, after complaining the targets were affecting the quality of the repairs.
One method under trial is the “Jetpatcher”, a self-contained system using compressed air, bitumen emulsion and fine aggregate to fill holes, uneven patches and to waterproof roads and pavements.
Experts said the process was five times more efficient than Diesel Replica Watch traditional pothole repair work.
The second method undergoing trials is the so-called low-carbon “nu-phalt”, which mends lumps and bumps by reusing the broken road Giverchy Bags Replica surface by reheating it to 200C via an infra-red heater.
The third method, known as “HRA”, is a traditional style of pothole repair which involves mechanically breaking the edges of the hole and the sealing the debris.
Councillor Smith added: “We need to improve the overall quality of the road network, so that by enhancing the structure of the carriageways they will be less susceptible to the damage that extreme weather conditions can cause.
“Of course, to bring the whole network up to a good standard would cost millions, which the public purse does not currently have.
“This has forced us to think of a new, innovative approach in order to tackle this huge problem.
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http://gfyuuok.canalblog.com/archives/2010/06/22/18388798.html
