Bath and North East Somerset – ranked best in the South West ‘Highways Maintenance’
More than 15km of highway has been resurfaced across Bath and North East Somerset this year as the council completes its resurfacing programme. Alongside the delivery of the resurfacing and patching programme in 2023, VolkerHighways also repaired 6,838 potholes – averaging 20 repairs a day.
The annual resurfacing programme has been delivered on time and under budget, despite the ongoing challenges posed by rising material costs. In total 144,663m2 of highway has been resurfaced, the equivalent of 554 tennis courts.
The council’s ‘Highways Maintenance’ was ranked best in the South West in a national independent survey which analysed results from 111 authorities across England.
The National Highways & Transport Satisfaction Survey is the largest survey of local opinion around transport and highways in the UK. Bath & North East Somerset Council also topped the South West satisfaction rankings for dealing with potholes, the number of potholes and the quality of repair to damaged roads.
The results from almost 900 randomly selected Bath & North East Somerset residents also showed their satisfaction with the condition of roads is decreasing and that they feel it should be the highest spending priority for the council.
Working with Bath and North East Somerset Council and other supply chain partners, 32 road resurfacing schemes have been completed, as well as a programme of highway patching, surface dressing and footway repairs this year.
Key schemes include Frome Road in Radstock, High Street in Chew Magna and Chelwood Roundabout. In advance of each scheme, safety inspections were carried out and roads in the worst condition were prioritised and repaired first.
The patching programme, which involves smaller resurfacing schemes, has seen 48,393m2 of highway resurfaced at 22 locations, as well as 17 footway patching schemes completed.
Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Transport, said: “It’s been another busy year for the Highways team, who have completed this programme alongside unprecedented pothole repairs which has seen an average of 20 fixed each day.
“We’re pleased to see their efforts reflected in the survey, we know there is work to be done and hope to achieve even higher scores next year.
“These resurfacing works make a huge difference to everyone using our roads, and we are already in the process of preparing for next year’s programme of works.”