The county’s roads will be a smoother place to travel this summer as work gets underway to improve sections of Northumberland’s network.
Around 53 miles of roads will be improved in the County Council’s annual surface dressing programme.
Surface dressing is used where the existing road surface has worn over a period of several years. This can lead to minor surface cracks, allowing water to enter and cause damage which can reduce the skidding resistance of the road surface.
Surface dressing seals the cracks, protecting the underlying construction, and restores the surface texture and skidding resistance of the road.
Where required teams have also carried out patching along the length of road before the surface dressing treatment takes place.
This year’s programme, which the council has invested almost £2 million in, will see road surfaces improved from the Scottish border down to the south east corner of the county and across into Tynedale.
This work forms part of the council’s Local Transport Plan Programme, a £20million investment for 2017/18 to maintain and improve the county’s highway and transport network.
David Laux, Head of Technical Services at Northumberland County Council, said: “We’re committed to doing everything we can to provide quality repairs to our county’s roads in the most cost effective way.
“These more minor roads are often lifelines between rural communities and it’s vital they are kept in a good state of repair.
“This annual programme of surface dressing will see improvements to roads across the county.”
More information and details of the work on this year’s surface dressing programme is available via www.northumberland.gov.uk