11 March 2020

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

West Sussex Highways continues to take action against potholes, with 2,479 repairs completed across the county in January alone.

Recent, frequent changes between cold temperatures, to mild/wet weather, and back again, have significantly increased the number of potholes on our roads. With the expansion and contraction caused by temperature change, deterioration will occur, resulting in new potholes.

However, pothole repairs are only part of the picture – we also have a pothole prevention strategy, and:

• resurface whole/large sections of roads, removing all the surface and replacing with a new one on top;
• micro-surface, where a layer of asphalt emulsion is blended with finely-crushed stone to seal the road surface;
• use surface dressing, spraying the road with bitumen binder, followed by a layer of stone chippings which are then rolled in.

In 2019 to 2020, we invested a total of £8.9 million treating 806,000m² of carriageway using these three methods. The draft 2020/21 programme is being finalised but will see further investment in West Sussex’s roads.

If you’re interested finding out more, visit our website for the full news story.