Huge repair bill as roads crumble

VITAL repair work planned for Rotherham’s crumbling roads may have to be put off for months after freezing weather left highways engineers with an unexpected bill of 700,000.

A huge programme of works was drawn up after motorists delivered a damning verdict on the state of the roads in a recent council survey, with just 22 per cent saying they were satisfied.

But that has now been overtaken by events after an “emergency rapid inspection” of the borough’s highway network was carried out after significant snow and ice in January and February.

In a report to be considered on Monday, Rotherham Council’s streetpride community delivery manager Andy Shaw reveals that the weather has caused massive problems for his teams.

He says: “In December, January and February, we experienced a period of extreme winter weather that is reported to be the worst event for the last 20 or 30 years.

“The freeze/thaw action has dramatically accelerated the deterioration of our highways, leaving considerable lengths of carriageway in urgent need of repair, and creating many more dangerous defects than normal.”

Statistics show that in the four working weeks in January this year, a total of 3,639 potholes were repaired by highways workers compared to 1,063 in the same period in 2009.

In February, an additional 3,390 potholes were filled, compared with 1,154 in the same month last year, and workers were put on overtime to ensure the council met its legal obligation to keep the roads safe.

Mr Shaw says a list has now also been drawn up of roads which had been left in a severe state of disrepair by the ice, which would have to take priority over planned maintenance.

It is hoped that work to repair the winter damage will be completed by the end of the financial year, with the bill estimated at 686,000.

This will have to be met from council reserves and savings made last year.

But engineers have also said that even that huge bill may increase, because the hasty emergency inspection may have missed some areas of damage and the possibility of more bad weather.

Mr Shaw’s report adds: “In view of the necessarily rapid nature of the emergency highway inspection work, undertaken and the continuing cold winter conditions it is possible that the damage identified could be an under-estimate of the eventual liability.

“Every effort is being made to maintain the programme of work to ensure that the damage is repaired by the end of this financial year, but a number of factors are impacting on progress.”

Councillors are likely to be concerned over any delay in completing planned maintenance in areas where residents have been complaining of poor road conditions for years.

A 4m project to resurface the town’s notorious Centenary Way ring road is, however, nearing completion.

A further financial headache faces elected members, who will be forced to deal with a large increase in the so-called winter maintenance gritting budget, which has overspent by almost 400,000.

Other councils in the region are also facing massive bills for repairs to their roads following the snow and ice, and Doncaster Council has admitted that it needs 10m to bring its roads up to scratch.

North Yorkshire County Council recently unveiled a last-minute increase in council tax to help pay for repairs to roads damaged by snow and ice, but this has not been proposed by South Yorkshire’s authorities.