Highways inspectors are working to keep our roads safe in Nottinghamshire
and live on Freeview channel 276
After months of wet and cold weather – and with more cold weather set to come – roads in Nottinghamshire are suffering and potholes have become a major issue for most people.
After a pothole is reported to Via East Midlands, which maintains the county’s roads and pavements, there are just 24 hours to make that area safe, which means staff will complete a safety repair and then a larger scale plan is put in place when there is more time.
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There are eight large scale patching teams and a team of 17 inspectors who work across the county.
Wayne Prince, highways inspection and risk manager, said: “Our primary objective is to keep the highways safe.
“If you’ve got an isolated pothole in the road, and the rest of the road is alright, then they will deal with that. But then if they have to do a return visit, it is not necessarily to deal with exactly the same pothole, it’s deterioration to the side of it or next to it.
“But the inspectors can then put those roads forward for a larger scale works and it will be programmed in. Then another team come in and assess it and they also look at the wider area to make it more cost effective to build the programme up.
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“There’s a necessity for us to do the repairs in the order that we do them.
“It’s not a waste of money or time, it needs to be done to keep the highways safe and keep the public safe.
“We have strict timelines for us to get the work done. The code of practice gives us guidelines on how we should be inspecting and time scales that we should be adhering to to carry these works out and the larger scale work is not practical to fit into those timescales with the resources, kit and programming, so if we don’t complete that safety repair first then it is a danger.
“Prior to winter with this new way of working with the larger scale of patching, the number of emergency defects was dropping, but winter has hit us hard and sub-zero temperatures are potentially coming in, so we are being extra vigilant to try and catch them before they become an immediate danger.
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“However, we rely heavily on the public to report things through to us.
“Turning the conditions of our road to perfect, is like trying to turn an oil tanker, it’s not a speedboat. It’s going to take time, but we are seeing it happen and it’s getting better.”
Gary Wright, senior highways inspector, said: “When people do approach us to ask us about the process it’s a good conversation as it gives them an understanding of why we’re doing it.
“Once the weather does turn the teams will be responding to enquiries throughout the day.
"We prioritise the worst jobs and we like our inspectors to be working in one area so they are familiar with it and it gives them a local knowledge.”