'Win all round' as pothole repair machine trialled

The council said there had been a 45% increase in pothole repairs in the space of a year

A new pothole repair machine being trialled has been described as a "win" for Suffolk.

The new Dragon Patcher machine can repair a pothole in about five minutes, compared to the usual 20, and 45% more had been repaired compared to the same period last winter.

Paul West, county council cabinet member for highways and flooding, said the machine was a "win all round".

It was hoped it could help improve the council's backlog if the trial was successful.

It was hoped the new machine could help clear the backlog of pothole repairs

"It's on trial and is much more efficient than traditional methods and much more environmentally friendly," Mr West said.

"We're always open to new technologies.

"Compared to the traditional method this can fix potholes in under half the time and the carbon footprint is less than 10% of a traditional repair.

"It's a win all round."

The trial will last for about a month before the council will assess the data.

Mr West said 10,500 potholes had been filled from October to February compared to the same period the year before when 7,500 holes were filled.

The new pothole machine is more environmentally friendly than traditional methods

The council said the Dragon Patcher makes use of compressed air which is released and used to clean the surface of the road.

The road is then heated to a temperature than enables the repair material to bond effectively to the surface, allowing the pothole to be repaired with an aggregate and hot bitumen material.

Mr West added that "people want to see more potholes filled with less disruption".

People in Mildenhall voiced their frustration on BBC Radio Suffolk last week when a number of potholes on Trinity Avenue were filled while a large number of others were not.

"It's terrible. There's people getting tyre punctures and you can hear your whole car shaking," said one woman.

"It's not fair, especially when everyone is paying their taxes."

A spokesperson for the council said it had planned full resurfacing works for Trinity Avenue this year.

"We will make contact with the community once the work has been scheduled," they added.