Patcher to speed up pothole repairs

Named the Velocity Patcher, the machine can fix up to 150 potholes per day, and can permanently repair a pothole in about two minutes.

Councillor Brian Spurr, Executive Member for Sustainable Community Services, said: “Maintaining our roads is a key priority for the council, and we’re constantly investigating new ways to use technology to keep our road network moving.”

The new process will leave a permanent, level repair that means roads can be re-opened quickly.

Councillor Spurr added: “We trialled a slightly different machine to test this method earlier in the year and were pleased with what we saw.

“We’ll still be closely monitoring the quality of repairs but this should enable us to make real progress on tackling something we know impacts on residents across the whole area.”

As heat is not involved in the process, the Velocity Patcher is also a greener way of repairing potholes.

It produces exceptionally low carbon dioxide emissions, leaves minimal waste material, and causes no further damage to the road.

This new approach will mean a large number of more minor defects, for which funding would not normally be available, will be repaired.

The patcher will be used for the next two months and is funded by money recently secured from the Department of Transport.