Road surfacing and dressing

We maintain the county's roads using extensive programmes of patching, resurfacing, reconstruction and surface dressing.

When carrying out repairs on:

  • potholes or replacing a smooth/worn-out road edge we use patching and replace the top 4cm
  • large areas we resurface the road and replace the top 4cm normally under a road closure
  • a substantially failed road we reconstruct it replacing all layers normally under a full road closure

Surface dressing

Surface dressing is an effective way of maintaining roads. It uses chippings rolled into a layer of hot bitumen. The benefits are that it:

  • improves skid resistance and makes the road safer
  • waterproofs and protects the road against winter damage
  • extends the life of the surface by up to 10 years
  • costs one-fifth of the price of resurfacing
  • prevents the need for more expensive work
  • minimises disruption to road users, local businesses and emergency services

Surface dressing takes place from April to August.

View our surface dressing programme.

View all planned roadworks.