More than 150 Hampshire roads repaired under £15m maintenance programme
Extra resurfacing, surface treatment and larger patching schemes has been carried out on roads most affected by last winter’s weather.
More than 150 roads across Hampshire have received structural patching work as part of a £15 million highways maintenance programme brought forward by Hampshire County Council earlier this year.
Details of the work were revealed at a meeting of the county council’s full council after cabinet member for highways and passenger transport Steve Forster was asked how the additional funding had been spent.
Cllr Forster said the money had funded extra resurfacing, surface treatment and larger patching schemes on roads most affected by last winter’s weather.
According to Cllr Forster, the programme has delivered 32 additional resurfacing projects, three substantial surface-treatment schemes and structural patching work on more than 150 roads across the county, excluding Portsmouth and Southampton which are looked after by the city councils.
He said: “Patching work continues throughout the year. The approach taken focused on preserving and strengthening our vital road assets before more significant problems develop.”
A supplementary question at the meeting asked whether the council expected the maintenance programme to improve road conditions during the coming winter, particularly in light of concerns about the potential impact of the El Niño weather pattern.
Cllr Forster said it was not possible to accurately predict the impact because the severity of winter weather remained uncertain.
He said the £15m investment had been brought forward in anticipation of a potentially difficult winter but warned that freezing temperatures and snowfall could still damage roads despite the preventative work.
The county council announced the £15m investment in July as part of an accelerated highways maintenance programme.
At the time, it said the funding would be used for planned maintenance and reactive repairs following significant deterioration caused by winter weather.
The programme was intended to support additional resurfacing works, surface-treatment schemes and repairs to damaged sections of road, including potholes, cracking and surface failure.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has requested a full list of roads that benefited from the £15m programme.
Hampshire County Council had not provided the information at the time of publication.