A unique new vehicle is being used by Somerset Council and its contractor for a major programme of road repairs in the Burnham-On-Sea area and other parts of the county this month.
Road surface treatment specialists Kiely Bros have been awarded a four-year contract to carry out a wide range of services, including road surface dressing.
Kiely Bros is introducing this pioneering new piece of machinery, known as the Multipatcher, to repair Somerset’s roads.
It is a vehicle that can carry out small scale surface dressing works, but also quickly and efficiently repair a range of other defects with just a driver and small team managing traffic.
Following extensive surveys the team did 17,000m2 of pre-patching across the network throughout April.
These advance works will tackle visible defects such as potholes, cracks or subsidence. It is essential to fill these defects and cracks to avoid water getting in, otherwise when it freezes and expands further potholes and cracks are formed.
Once this preparation work is done, the surface treatments programme, which includes surface dressing, starts in July.
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.
Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Highways and Digital, Councillor Richard Wilkins adds: “We are delighted to welcome the Kiely Bros team on board. Surface dressing and surface treatments are critically important in keeping our highways running efficiently and Kiely Bros have a fantastic record for innovation, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”
Mike Kiely, Managing Director of Kiely Bros, said: “The preparation is time consuming, but this essential programme ensures that once our crews return later in the Summer to start the surface dressing work, we are able to deliver efficient and effective surface treatments, with minimal disruption to the residents and road users of Somerset.”
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 check out the surface dressing programme here during the summer. If you spot a problem on the road, you can alert the council at: Report a problem on the road. You can find out more about the Multipatcher here.
