Suffolk Highways is celebrating road repair success following a £300,000 investment in Nu-phalt Thermal Patching technology.
The investment, which has been funded from the extra £9.67 million received from central government in the autumn, has aided the county’s Highways teams to carry out more effective, longer-lasting repairs to Suffolk’s road surface.
Over the last month, Suffolk Highways has deployed three thermal road repair machines which have repaired approximately 1,700 potholes county-wide.
The process includes an eight-minute heating cycle of the road surrounding the defect allowing for the existing road surface to be heated to 200 Celsius. The surface is then raked, topped up with bitumen binder and pre-heated material, then compacted. This all takes place within the service’s much-favoured 15-minute temporary closure.
The process does not require excavation of the highway, meaning no dust or noise, and better still, no waste material. The result also means there are no surface joints, which can be prone to faster deterioration.
Following its success, Suffolk Highways is now looking to accommodate this technology by adapting some of its own fleet to self-deliver this repair technique from March.
Beyond the investment in Nu-phalt Thermal Patching technology, the £9.67m of funding will enable a programme of work. This includes improvements and repairs to the pavements in the town centres of Stowmarket, Felixstowe and Haverhill and drainage work to solve long-term flooding problems on the A12 – Wangford bypass, the A143 – Bury St Edmunds Compiegne Way, and the A1120 – Cedars Link Stowmarket. The funding will also be used for better quality, long-lasting white lining on the:
- A146 Lowestoft
- A1092
- A1021
- A1141
- A1095
- A1120.
On rural roads, when preparing roads for next summer’s surface dressing, the funding will allow for work to clear drains and gullies, cut back hedges, cut grips and clean signs.
