A highways maintenance blitz is due to take place during September to ensure Manchester roads are future-proofed for the next decade and more.
When we spoke to Mancunians about our highways network they told us that they wanted roads and pavements up to standard and for them to stay that way.
As part of our commitment to “you say, we do” a large-scale, £1.93m resurfacing programme is set to run throughout September with 53 roads throughout Manchester due to be improved.
In many cases the roads chosen will not be entirely degraded, however the point of this work is to prevent issues arising before they have a chance to. As we all know winter and the wet cold weather it brings is the cause of a large number of issues to the road network, so by putting a protective barrier in place ahead of time we are nipping in the bud potential future issues.
The work being carried out will take place in two stages:
Surface Dressing – the area is sprayed with bitumen while stone chips are pressed into the surface with rollers. More chips are then added to the surface to ensure an even cover. The excess chips are swept away; however some will remain and there will be a temporary lowered speed limit until they’re gone – roughly four to five days
Sealing – also known as the ‘Kiely Lock process’ this phase of the resurfacing work involves spraying a sealant that locks in the excess chips and helps to prevent water getting access to the lower sections of the road
This type of resurfacing can prevent additional maintenance needing to take place for up to ten years.
Work will take place across a number of neighbourhoods in Manchester, with a full list of the chosen streets available on our website.
The planned improvements will start on Tuesday, 16 September and will continue until Saturday, 27 September.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport, said: “We know that the cold and wet of winter puts additional stress on our roads, add in freezing temperatures and we have a recipe that can make short work of the road surface.
“This is why we’re mobilising now to ensure that we can protect as many roads as possible which not only saves the taxpayer money in the long term, but it makes our journeys quicker and safer.
“Over the past year we have invested heavily in improvements to our highways network as we know from our residents’ feedback it’s one of the issues most important to them. We are confident that this programme of works will be a net positive for our residents and I’d like to thank them ahead of time for their patience as we futureproof our roads for the coming decade.”
