Road surfacing is a false economy

I worked for the highways team for six years repairing our county's roads.

The process they tend do use is to sometimes skim a top layer off the carriageway and then paint it with a bonding material.

Then the tarmac is laid and rolled. Or loose chipping are laid and rolled.

This has its downside. The chippings take a long time to bed in and be crushed down by the weight of the passing traffic. On main roads this time is shortened, but on quieter roads it can take months.

This causes problems as chippings can block up drains and in some places I've seen the verges covered and mountains of loose stones accumulating either at the edge of the road or in the middle, which can be dangerous to cyclists.

When the weather gets hot the glue binding the stones gets hot and another problem arises – the glue flicks all over the place and the chippings become loose.

In the long run, it is a false economy.

Paul Draper

Evesham