Operation road rescue begins

5,000 potholes fixed in Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire County Council has fixed more than 5,000 potholes in the past two weeks as part of Operation Road Rescue.

Highways teams have been out for the past two weeks repairing all the damage caused during the recent cold spell, the bill is set to reach at least £5 million.

A major road maintenance scheme in Cheltenham will start next week as part of the operation. 

Sections of High Street and Ambrose Street were originally scheduled for repair in the next financial year but the work has been brought forward following the recent severe weather. The £130,000 project will start on February 15th and to help keep disruption to an absolute minimum the work will be carried out during the school half term holidays.

While the teams are working some bus services will be diverted through the York Stone Promenade and bus operators will have inspectors on hand to help passengers.

Teams have already carried out patching work at the following locations:

East Area
B4135 Kingscote
A46 Calcot Crossroads to County Boundary
Coombe End, Elkstone
Tetbury Lane, Leighterton
A44 Bourton on Hill
Stratton Heights, Purlley Road, Cirencester
Shab Hill, Elkstone
Easton Grey

Central Area

Clifton Road, Gloucester
Hales Road, Cheltenham
Station Road, Churchdown
High Street, Stonehouse
A419 Chipmans Platt to Nastend Junction
A419 Cowcombe Hill, Chalford
Butterow Hill, Stroud
Bakers Mill Bridge, Frampton Mansell
Winchester Way Cheltenham

West Area
Fiddington Lane
Wormington
Snows Hill
Pillowell Road
Hales Road, Gloucestershire
Clanna Lane, Alvington

We also undertook resurfacing works at the following locations:

Central

Newton Road, Cheltenham
St Paul Street North, Cheltenham
Up Hatherley Way / Cold pool Lane Roundabout

West
A38 Tewkesbury Bypass
B4221 Kilcot

East Area
A44 Bourton on Hill
Stratton Heights, Purlley Road, Cirencester
Shab Hill, Elkstone
Easton Grey
A429 Stow Hill

Operation Road Rescue will take a three-pronged attack on repairs:

Worst first: For safety we are fixing the most dangerous potholes first, which may mean that some potholes in a street will be repaired while others are left until later. It is essential that we work like this to ensure the most dangerous defects are repaired as quickly as possible. We’re haven’t forgotten the less serious potholes – they will be repaired as soon as the major work is complete.

Patching: In some locations road surfaces have been severely damaged with dozens of potholes caused by the severe weather. Our safety inspection and area teams are prioritising areas where we will be carrying out larger patching works to repair these potholes.

Resurfacing: We’re also in the process of re-prioritising our current resurfacing programme to take into account the damage that has happened due to the recent ice and snow. There is obviously a limited pot of money for major schemes like these so it isn’t possible to resurface every single road in the county.
 
Find out more info about Operation Road Rescue