More than 1.7 million square meters of Staffordshire roads have already been surface dressed this financial year, and now, thanks to the fast work of highway crews, even more preventative maintenance projects are ahead of schedule. 

Between March and October this year, Staffordshire County Council’s highways crews have surface dressed 762 roads, covering 1,705,442 square metres in total. That amounts to approximately 239 football pitches.

This includes 98 road projects brought forward from the next financial year. 

Surface dressing involves structurally repairing roads from end-to-end before applying a new smooth top surface. 

This vital highway treatment is carried out on roads before they deteriorate too far and require more costly repairs. Surface dressing reduces the risk of potholes and can prolong the life of roads by up to 15 years.  

Mark Deaville, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for strategic highways, said: “Preventative treatments on our roads are an important tool in our armoury and are key to maintaining our road network. 

“It’s an approach we have been using extensively across the county for many years now and has been very effective in protecting our roads. It not only helps prolong the life of the road, preventing future potholes and improving the road surface but also helps to free up resources, is cost effective, and massively reduces the carbon footprint associated with maintaining the road network.  

“Our huge 6,000km road network is crucial for those who live and work in the county but keeping it in a good state of repair is an ongoing and costly challenge. Our £50 million investment over three years will allow us to make substantial improvements on the network and deliver smoother journeys for drivers.” 

Last financial year (2022/2023), highways crews carried out preventative work on almost 1.5 million square metres of Staffordshire’s roads.  

In a recent report by the RAC, Staffordshire County Council was highlighted as carrying out more maintenance of its A roads in 2022 than every other local authority in England.  

Staffordshire County Council is investing an extra £50 million into maintaining and improving the county’s highways over the next three years. This is alongside £53 million being spent on a range of major projects, vital road improvements and general road maintenance in 2024/25.