Surrey council to spend millions fixing potholes

Surrey County Council is promising a major pothole repair campaign this summer

An extra £8.5m is to be spent on repairing potholes in the biggest ever "surface dressing" programme to be undertaken in Surrey.

Work will be carried out over the summer on 85 miles of road, covering 100 routes through the county.

Surrey County Council said the so-called surface dressing process is environmentally friendly and can prolong the life of a road by a decade.

Lucy Monie, the council's director of highways and transport, said: "We understand the state of our roads continues to be a source of frustration."

During the work, bitumen will be sprayed onto the roads, with stone chippings spread on top.

The sealed surface is then rolled to embed the stones in the bitumen.

Surrey is investing nearly £300m in repairing and improving the county's roads and pavements by 2028.

Ms Monie said: "The increasingly wet weather really impacts our roads – which are some of the busiest in the country.

“This year’s programme will be the biggest surface dressing programme ever undertaken in Surrey.”

It is hoped surface dressing will prolong the life of roads by up to 10 years

It is hoped the roads will be waterproof enough to prevent new potholes forming, with the added advantage that large stretches of road can be treated in a single day.

Janet Darge, a motorist from Woking, told BBC Radio Surrey: "I've had three new tyres last year, and this year I've been down a few potholes.

"Going towards the Six Crossroads roundabout, there's a big pothole there - I always go down that one. All along Old Byfleet Road, going towards Old Woking, it's really, really bad there."

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