Dear Cllr Ioannou,
Case Reference: 101000095540
I refer to your recent enquiry relating to the road treatment works that have been carried out in Wynchgate. At our recent meeting with Doug Wilkinson on Monday 20th June you raised this very topic and we discussed how this process extends the life of a road by “softening” the asphalt material. Over time as a road surface is exposed to UV rays, the asphalt hardens and becomes brittle allowing cracks to form and water to ingress. This will then ultimately lead to potholes forming where the under lying water turns to ice and expands pushing the surface material upwards with not support underneath and then vehicles pressure breaks up the material. Very much like repainting woodwork before it has blistered and allowed water in and started to rot. This is part of our preventative maintenance treatments.
As I explained at the time this product is quite new to the UK market and we will be monitoring its performance over the coming months and years with the hope that it will extend the life of many roads without the need for costly resurfacing works. This process costs 1 /10th of traditional resurfacing works.
If you are aware of any other roads that you feel we should be considering for resurfacing or treatment please could you let us know and we will conduct a visual survey of these for potential inclusion in future years programmes.
I hope that this has now clarified this for you.