Despite its relatively small size, the length and importance of Stoke-on-Trent’s road network is huge. To businesses and residents who rely on them to get around, ensuring the 600 miles of road within the city are crucial. It’s for this reason that last year we announced one of the biggest ever sustained investments in the road network, with £35m being spent up to 2024 on resurfacing and repairing roads and pavements.
Within this is an ongoing commitment to reduce the pothole backlog within the city. Unfortunately, winter weather and the sheer pressure our roads are under every day means potholes are inevitable, but our teams have worked hard through the last year to make massive inroads in the reported numbers of potholes across the city. Today, the backlog is down to 643 from 2,296 in January 2019, a reduction of nearly 72%! More than 10,000 road and pavement repairs were carried out last year, including 5,859 pothole repairs.
In that same time, 70 miles of road - roughly the straight line distance between Stoke-on-Trent and my favourite seaside destination of Llandudno - were resurfaced. This has included places we’re all familiar with including the Basford roundabout (A53), Weston Coyney Road, and Station Road, and we are already at work on plans for 2021 works.
We’re keen to also ensure that Stoke-on-Trent City Council is at the forefront of new developments, and have recently collaborated with JCB on their new Pothole Pro. It is currently being trialled in the city, and you can hear me talking about it on BBC Radio 4’s ‘You and Yours’ on 15 January 2021 here.
