The UK's worst winter in 30 years has contributed to a sharp rise in potholes with the number increasing by 60 per cent over the past two years and as a result some residents are now facing a "snow tax" to pay for the additional road repairs.
The trade body for road menders, the Asphalt Industry Alliance, estimates that with the average cost of repairing potholes was £70 and with a pothole every 120 yards, it would take more than 15 years to fix them all, and the cost to local authorities could be £10 billion.
Some councils have approved council tax rises to pay for the repair bill of more than £1 million a day.
North Yorkshire County Council has imposed an increase of 2.94 per cent – up from an original 2.5 per cent – to fund its maintenance bill, adding almost £5 to an average Band D bill.
"This amounts to a snow tax. Of course the snow has caused problems but the council has £15 million in reserves to deal with unforeseen emergencies like this," said Bill Hoult, the council’s Lib-Dems leader.
Conservative leader John Weighell said it was the lowest increase the council, recently criticised for spending almost £28,000 resurfacing a dead-end farm track, had approved for 16 years.
He called on the Government to approve extra funding for repair work.
It is estimated the number of craters on Britain's 246,000 miles of secondary routes (excluding motorways or A-roads) has risen to more than 1.6 million, with an increase of 700,000 in the past two years alone.
Wet weather combined with freezing conditions destroys tarmac, as ice seeps into the road, expands and the enormous pressure splits the bitumen.
Last year the short cold snap cost local authorities almost £50 million in compensation claims for injury and damage, with an average driver facing a £240 repair bill.
An LGA spokeswoman said the "harshest winter for 30 years has left councils with a massive repair bill at a time when finances are squeezed".
"Potholes are the gaping sores in our road network and councils know how much motorists hate them. They are working flat out to carry as many repairs as possible."
"Councils are doing their best to balance the books without passing costs on to residents but funding available is limited."
Priory Road in Hull, East Yorkshire, was recently named the worst road in Britain after 319 potholes were found over just 400 yards! It was resurfaced last month.
A story we read from the Croydon Your Local Guardian, is that a two metre long, metre wide pothole on Parkway in New Addington, Croydon has seen drivers swerving to avoid the gaping hole or screeching to a halt when confronted by its enormity – quite like the video we posted of a pothole in Russia.
The recent Arctic conditions earlier in January have continued to cause chaos on the roads, with potholes cropping up all over the place, and this is possibly the biggest in the UK.
As we have explained, water freezes below the road it forms into ice, expands and causes cracks that then turn into potholes once the weather warms again.
Croydon local resident Eileen Smith said: "I agree that this road needs completely digging out and to be repaired to a proper standard."
"I really do not feel that throwing a couple of shovels of gravel into these holes is the answer."
"Everybody who owns a car pays road tax and therefore the roads should be maintained to a good standard."
Ultracrete Permanent Road Repair available for sale now!
It's here! Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair (PRR) is a good solution for repairing potholes in roads, driveways, paths and car parks. It's so easy, DIYers can easiliy do it. One major advantage is you can drive or walk on it straight away even in wet, freezing or hot conditions, and at the same time is compatible with the existing road surface.
Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair includes fully graded, High PSV interlocking aggregate and specially formulated bitumen, and is supplied in 25kg recyclable containers (Instarmac Plastic Containers Recycling Scheme is available for this product).
Things to do with it...
Driveway pothole repair
Tarmac drive repair
Garden path repair
Things you might get paid to do with it...
Footway repair
Cycle track repair
Road repair
Car park repair
Tell me about the good points!...
Use in wet, freezing and hot conditions
No special preparation
Instant trafficking
Only one visit required
Recyclable containers
Compatible with existing road surface
Solvent free
How do I use it?
Brush out any debris from the pothole
Optional: For increased durability, spray sides with SCJ
Fill in the pothole with Instant Road Repair
Smack down with spade or tamper
Ready for immediate use
It really is that simple!
Aggregate grades
3mm Black for paths, drive, cycle tracks, pavements, driveways
If you thought we had big potholes in the UK – think again!
Check out this video is from Russia which shows the effect of monster potholes on cars. Looks like the guy pulled over and shot it on his mobile phone.
The problem with road potholes is they quickly get a lot worse and are very hazardous if they contain a puddle.
Ultracrete Permanent Road Repair PRR on Sale Next Week
We are placed to announce the imminent arrival of Permanent Road Repair from Ultracrete. We expect to be selling it next week in its smart tarmac black tubs.
PRR Applications
Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair is a suitable solution for roads, pavements, driveways and car parks. The product can be trafficked instantly in wet, freezing and hot conditions and at the same time is compatible with the existing road surface.
Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair can be applied at depths of 20mm 100mm. (Greater depths can be achieved by applying the layer-on-layer method.)
Technical information
Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair includes fully graded, high PSV interlocking aggregate and specially formulated bitumen and is supplied in recyclable 25kg tubs.
Application
Pothole repairs can be achieved at any depth.
Make sure the pothole is free of debris and any standing water.
Compact with a hand tamper, spade, shovel or suitable mechanical alternative.
Health & Safety
The binder used in Ultracrete PPR is particularly tenacious. Ensure that protective gloves, overalls and protective footwear are worn at all times while handling the material. Avoid skin contact. However, should the bitumen binder adhere to the skin it can be removed with soap and water. Seek medical advice if discomfort continues. If product comes into contact with the eyes rinse with plenty of water and seek medical advice.
Features & Benefits
3mm grade stone
Used in wet, freezing and hot conditions
No special preparation
Drive or walk on it straight away
Get the pothole fixed in one hit
Recyclable containers
Compatible with flexible road surfaces
Solvent free
Ready to use
No need to add water
Polished Stone Value 60 psv
Absolutely no waste
Environmentally friendly No co² gases
Storage
Store in a cool and well-ventilated place.
Shelf Life
Shelf life in the right conditions for sealed goods is 6 months.
Instarmac appear on BBC News reporting concerning potholes and state of roads across the UK
Potholes account for a massive 12% of all CTC, the National cyclists' organisation, insurance claims across the UK add that to motorists who are damaging tyres and wheels, the claims are huge.
BBC Radio said that a pothole is recorded every 110 metres on average! The icy UK spells we've just had are compounding the problem.
Ultracrete has launched its new permanent pothole repair product in January 2010.
In addition to the market-leading Instant Road Repair IRR cold lay macadam, this new enhanced formulation product will provide the ultimate solution for the filling of potholes across the UK.
Permanent Pothole Repair PPR has been specially formulated to include fully graded, high PSV interlocking aggregate, specially prepared bitumen and the latest in industry technology to ensure strong flexibility and guarantee the best product performance.
Ultracrete Permanent Pothole Repair is designed for roads, pavements, driveways and car parks where potholes are a problem.
Its simple to use saving time and effort for Contractors or DIYers when repairing potholes.
Packed in 25kg contractor friendly plastic containers that are recyclable, users have a quality product that can be applied immediately – reducing the amount of potential damage claims that are ever on the increase as the state of UK roads becomes more potholed.
We'll let you know as soon as we stock Permanent Pothole Repair PPR.
We've all heard of Tarmac but probably don't know much about it
Tarmac is short for Tarmacadam, a portmanteau for Tar-penetration Macadam, a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901.
A bit of Tarmac trivia is that Baghdad is the first city known to have its streets paved with tar in the 8th century AD.
Over a 1,000 years later, John Loudon McAdam invented Macadamisation, a method of road construction. These roads were adequate for use by horse and carriage or coaches, but they were very dusty and eroded in heavy rain.
With higher speed motor vehicle use they didn't hold up. Methods to stabilise macadam roads with tar date back to at least 1834, when John Henry Cassell, operating from Cassell's Patent Lava Stone Works in Millwall, patented 'Pitch Macadam'.
This method involved spreading tar on the subgrade, then placing a typical macadam layer and then sealing the macadam with a mixture of tar and sand. Tar-grouted macadam was also in use well before 1900, and involved scarifying the surface of an existing macadam pavement, spreading tar and re-compacting.
The use of tar in road construction was used on a large scale with the arrival of the motor car in the early 20th century.
Hooley's 1901 patent for Tarmac involved mechanically mixing tar and aggregate prior to lay-down, and then compacting the mixture with a steam roller. The tar was modified with the addition of small amounts of Portland cement, resin and pitch.
Knowing how potholes are formed will help you prevent them forming
Freezing conditions are the favourite breeding conditions for potholes, as you will have read, local authorities are bracing themselve for a pothole repair bonanza.
A lot of you have asked us how potholes are formed and how you can repair them.
Here's a bit of information on how potholes are formed.
As your tarmac drive ages it gets more porous. Rainwater penetrates cracks caused by regular from cars pulling onto your driveway.
When water freezes on your drive it expands and more cracks form. The tarmac gets pushed outwards like a bubble.
When the ice thaws out, it creates voids or gaps under the surface of your tarmac drive or path. These get larger with each time it freezes and thaws again.
The weight of your car causes your drive tarmac to collapse and form potholes which gets larger the more times you roll over it with your car.
So, what do we suggest to fix a pothole easily with a long lasting repair?
Freezing weather and snow causes even more potholes in UK roads
It will cost millions of pounds, but it is a job UK Councils will need to fix them. Extra teams will be out fixing potholes, as failure to fix the potholes will cause the holes to get bigger and more expensive to fix.
Potholes are a big problem for local authorities across the country with the repeated freeze-thaw cycle of the current cold spell, its timing and its length making the problem worse this year.
Potholes are formed by water penetrating the asphalt surface of a road through cracks caused by traffic. When temperatures plunge, the water freezes, expands and causes the surface to rupture. When the ice melts, it leaves a void below the surface, which caves in under the stress of vehicles and eventually forms a pothole.
A small crack becomes a large crack, a large crack has become a small pothole and a small pothole very rapidly becomes a large pothole.
During the cold snap in February last year there was an estimated 40% increase in road damage, according to the AA. It says its insurance branch received more than three times as many claims for pothole damage than the same month the year before.
Local authorities are urging people to report potholes. This can usually be done via your council's websites.
There are also a number of other websites offering advice on dealing with and reporting potholes.
