Road condition and repairs

Level 1 - Keeping the network safe and serviceable (pot hole repairs)

Every highway authority is battling with the problem of potholes. 

We respond to potholes and other localised road defects according to the level of risk to road/pavement users. This means our response time depends on where the defect is, how bad the defect is, and how busy the road or pavement is. 

Urgent safety-critical pothole issues

Where our inspector considers the defect to be putting people at immediate risk, the inspector will make sure the defect is made safe or repaired within a set response time depending on the level of risk. 

• 2 hours for the most urgent issues
• 2 working days
• 5 working days
• 20 working days

Timescales start from the time of inspection.

Filling potholes

We use a variety of different techniques to fill potholes, depending on the circumstances.

Where appropriate, we use modern spray injection patching techniques to prevent potholes getting worse. This is usually in rural areas where loose chippings are less of an issue. Spray injection machines can fill a pothole in just a few minutes, and the road can be opened again straight after. We can only use spray injection in the spring and summer because it needs warmer temperatures.

Most potholes take between 30 and 45 minutes to fill. With spray injection, each pothole only takes a few minutes.

Pothole repair teams are responsible for clearing up as they go. They take photos of every pothole repair so we can make sure repairs are to a good standard.

After pothole repair work, and for non-urgent issues

Once any urgent repair work is done, or where the defect is not an immediate safety issue, we assess the best long term approach for the location.

We may schedule the defect for future treatment or add the stretch of road to either our level 2 (patching) or level 3 (resurfacing) programmes.

Where there are more than a few non-urgent defects on a stretch of road, we will plan patching or resurfacing work rather than individual pothole repairs. This is because it will not be cost-effective to fill each pothole separately.

More details about pot hole repair actions and timescales

Our Code of Practice for Highway Safety Inspections (PDF, 1.5MB) gives full details of how we inspect roads and respond to potholes and other road defects.

Level 2 - maintaining and protecting the network (patching)

The level 2 programme is a programme of patching maintenance work. Level 2 work protects the overall condition of the road network and stop roads from deteriorating.

When there are multiple non-urgent defects close together, we will schedule level 2 patching work because patching gives much better value than filling each defect individually. We don't have to go back to the same stretch of road repeatedly to fill separate potholes as they get worse.

If you see a road with a number of defects close together and wonder why we have not treated them, it is likely that we have scheduled the road for level 2 (or level 3) work.

We sometimes patch roads in preparation for level 3 treatments. The patching work should keep the road in a usable condition for a long time, so we add the proposed level 3 project to our rolling programme of work. We then keep the situation under review rather than fixing a specific timeframe for the job.

Level 3 - investing to improve the network (resurfacing)

Where large scale treatment of a road will deliver better long term value than patching, we include the work in our level 3 programme (known as our Carriageway Improvement Programme). When more than 20% of a stretch of road needs treating, for example, it is more cost-effective to treat the whole stretch of road than to patch.

Level 3 work improves the overall condition of the road. The work involves treatments such as surface dressing, micro asphalt and resurfacing.