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Coming to a street near you...
Hull City Council has a new local road improvement team to ensure roads and footpaths are maintained to a higher standard
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(Left) Maintenance ganger Martin Halliwell inspects a pothole and below (left to right): maintenance operatives Russell Gamble and Andrew Bell with Martin Halliwell |
Question: when is a pothole not a pothole?
Answer: when the hole or crack is less than 20mm deep on a pavement and less than 40mm deep on a carriageway.
Most local authorities across the country do not repair potholes that are shallower than these nationally recognised 'intervention levels', but Hull City Council is surpassing its legal requirements and going beyond what other councils provide to deliver an improved service for local pedestrians and road users.
"In many ways it's a case of 'a stitch in time saves nine' as we are filling in small, shallow potholes before they become larger and deeper problems," says Andrew Bell, Hull City Council's highways operations manager.
"It makes sense to act quickly and do the smaller jobs, especially if we are already working in a street to fill in the deeper potholes – doing both at once will save time and money in the long term."
Locally recruited
The nine-strong road improvement team includes eight who are new council employees and who have been recruited locally.
They work closely with the council's Streetscene highway inspectors, who are now inspecting carriageways and footways across the city to identify work for the team.
Repairs will only be made on roads that are maintained by Hull City Council and not on the A63 Clive Sullivan Way, Castle Street and Hedon Road trunk roads, which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency.
The council has provided the road improvement team with initial funding of £800,000 to run for 12 months.
"Poor road and footpath conditions are hazardous and cause a risk of trips and falls to pedestrians and damage to vehicles," says Cllr Mike Ross, portfolio holder for customer and neighbourhood services.
"We know from talking to residents across the city just how important well-maintained roads and pavements are to people in Hull.
We want to do all we can to ensure they are in the best possible state."
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