Somerset’s biggest road resurfacing programme in at least four years is contining across the county and is set to come into the Burnham-On-Sea area this September.
Somerset Council’s road surface treatment specialists Kiely Bros are undertaking work that will see 1,000,000 sqm of road surface dressed, equivalent to 141 football pitches.
The council says the treatment is a greener and more cost-effective form of maintenance, helping to improve the road network whilst emitting significantly less carbon compared to alternative solutions.
The work in the Burnham area is as follows:
- Monday 2 September – A38 Bristol Road, Badgworth, Rooksbridge and East Brent 9.30am to 3.30pm under stop/go.
- Tuesday 3 September – 9.30am to 3.30pm A370 Bridgwater / Weston Road, East Brent, Edingworth and Lympsham under stop/go.
The busy surface dressing programme is being done under short-term road closures or under stop-go signs depending on location. The road will only be closed for one-day within the stated period and advanced notice will be given to communities and road users.
Surface dressing is a nationally recognised maintenance technique for sealing a road, improving skid resistance, and preventing water getting under the surface. This is crucial to help stop potholes forming.
It works by coating an existing road surface with bitumen, covering it with stone chippings and then rolling it. It can only be carried out in dry weather, so the programme is flexible, and dates can change at short notice.
In some cases, a secondary treatment ‘Kiely Lock’ is applied a couple of weeks later. It is designed to further lock in loose chippings on the road surface and give the dressing the best life span.
Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Highways and Digital, Councillor Richard Wilkins, said: “This programme underlines our commitment to major investment in our roads and infrastructure to keep the county running.”
“Surface dressing and surface treatments are critically important when it comes to prolonging the life of our roads and preventing the need for more invasive and costly intervention and reducing the likelihood of potholes forming.”
As well as surface dressing the team from Kiely will be carrying out footway crack sealing, preparatory drainage, patching and cleaning, as well as post surfacing road markings, studs and high friction surfacing.
You can find out more about the Multipatcher here. If you do spot a problem on the road, you can alert the council at: Report a problem on the road.
