Recycled tyres help in mission to tackle road repairs in Bucks

This week Buckinghamshire Council completed its trial programme of an innovative new material designed for fast, permanent and cost-effective repairs to shallow defects in roads and footpaths including some potholes, cracks and surrounds to manhole covers and gully grates. Roadmender Mastic Rubber is a patented specialist rubber-modified adhesive made, in part, from recycled rubber tyres. It can be heated and mixed on site and does not require noisy machinery or cutting into the highway, minimising the risk of damaging water, gas or broadband services under the road or pathway.

Crews were this week on High Street, Prestwood, the last of 95 locations across the county where repairs have been made using this innovative material. As the technique is quicker than traditional patching, the crews were able to take advantage of the road closure to repaint the lines on the road as well. The council is interested to assess whether adopting use of mastic would enable more permanent repairs to be made to defects on workers’ first visits.

Buckinghamshire’s trial has seen 134 defects repaired, covering 1,268m2 and making a carbon saving of 48 tons over more traditional patching. Around 24 tons of the materials (incorporating 216 old and unusable tyres) have been used and the trial locations will be regularly inspected to assess how the material is performing and what type of sites are best suited for this technique.

As well as a reduced environmental impact, the use of this material causes less impact on the highways workforce’s exposure to noise, vibration and dust from cutting activity.

Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport explained: “We are always keen to trial new methods and materials for dealing with issues on our roads and footpaths. This particular technique could reduce delays for road users, be more environmentally friendly than traditional road repairs and most important of all, provide durable and cost-effective repairs.”

Steven added: “With our very wet winter we have seen many more potholes and cracks appear on our roads and our crews are out fixing these as fast as possible. The good news about this technique is that as it is quick to apply and also dries very quickly, it should allow us to make quicker permanent fixes in one visit for these types of defects.”

The council has committed a £110 million investment over four years into roads and has a long-term investment plan for the network including a programme of substantial resurfacing and improvement works over the spring, summer and autumn. As part of the budget setting plans for next year, an extra £5m was released from the council’s reserves to spend on roads, specifically to help manage the higher volume of work that’s now needed because of the wet weather over recent months.