Essential summer road maintenance begins in North Somerset
Essential works to improve the surface of key roads in North Somerset begins in July.
The work, to lay new road surfaces, will be completed in phases and will require some road closures.
The process, known as surface dressing, is carried out on roads in order to prevent deterioration and potholes. There is a small window of opportunity for this as it only takes a few years for water to enter the road surface and make it crack and degrade. Once this starts to happen the road will need full resurfacing.
Resurfacing is a very expensive and disruptive process, it also uses valuable resources with a high carbon footprint so the council tries to extend the life of existing road surfaces with preventative measures to improve the condition of more of its roads overall.
The surface dressing process entails spraying the road with bitumen and covering it with stone chippings, after which the road is then rolled, which along with the action of the slow moving traffic, embeds the chippings into the surface. To complete the process, the excess chippings are then swept up and the lining replaced at a later date.
Surface dressing is weather dependent so the dates of the work programme may vary. Road users are encouraged to visit n-somerset.gov.uk/roadworks or follow North Somerset Travel and Roads on Facebook for the latest updates.
Signage will also be placed on site to update road users of any disruption to their journey.
The following roads will be surface dressed with road closures in place on the following dates:
- Wednesday 9 July – B3133 Brinsea Road and Stock Lane, Congresbury. Closure between Venus Street to the roundabout with Langford Lane between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
- Thursday 10 July – C427 Upper Strode and The Street, Winford.
- Thursday 10 July – Lower Strode, Regil.
- Thursday 10 July – Cox’s Green, Wrington. Closure between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
- Thursday 10 July – Mill Lane, Wrington.
- Friday 11 July – C659 Puxton Road, Hewish. Closure between Riverside and Mays Green.
- Friday 11 July – C499 Oldmixon Road, Weston-super-Mare. Closure between no 105 and Totterdown Business Park.
- Monday 14 July – C448 Queensway, Weston-super-Mare. Closure between Ebdon Road and Lyefield Road.
- Monday 14 July – C444 Lower Norton Lane. Closure between Queens Way and Crookes Lane.
- Tuesday 15 July – C444 Sand Road. Closure between Lower Norton Lane and the 30mph sign.
- Tuesday 15 July – C403 Uphill Road South. Closure between the junctions with the A370.
- Tuesday 15 July – Weatherly Drive, Portishead.
- Wednesday 16 July - B3128 Cuckoo Lane. Closure between Clevedon Road and Whitehouse Lane.
Surface dressing provides added protection to the carriageway surface as well as enhancing the skid resistance, making it safer to drive on.
Cllr Hannah Young, North Somerset Council’s cabinet member for highways
This added protection extends the life of the carriageway surface by up to 10 years, which mean it is an important part of our work to maintain our roads as efficiently as possible, alongside programmes for full resurfacing and pothole repair.
We appreciate our surface dressing programme will cause some inconvenience but it is an essential process which safe guards the condition of our roads for years to come.
