Roads the equivalent size of almost 50 football pitches will be resurfaced in Sandwell over the summer.

Sandwell Council is investing more than £1million in improving roads and preventing potholes next winter, following the incredibly cold weather we saw in the first part of the year.
 
Sandwell Council’s highways team has already resurfaced 61 roads since the late spring. By the end of early autumn, more than 342,000m2 of 112 roads will have been resurfaced – the equivalent of 48 football pitches.
 
The work is expected to cost just over £1million and this work will be on top of further planned resurfacing and reconstruction work that will be carried out throughout the remainder of the year. Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for highways and environment Councillor David Hosell said:

“The roads were severely impacted by the winter's sustained bad weather. We had freezing temperatures and snow on the ground for many months. We’ve committed this money not only to pothole repairs but to resurfacing roads extensively to protect them for years to come.
 
“So, if you get a letter through your door or signs up in your street to say we’re resurfacing, please bear with us and park elsewhere while our contractors get the work done.”
 
The resurfacing is now done in a more environmentally friendly way – re-using hundreds of tonnes of recycled stone chippings. The council’s surface dressing contractor Kiely Bros has developed a system that grades and washes the loose chippings recovered from newly resurfaced roads across the West Midlands – instead of simply sending them to tip.
  
A couple of days after the work is done, a road sweeper is sent out to pick up the loose chippings, which would usually be mixed with other rubbish and thrown away. This new system means the chippings are retrieved from the road sweeper, washed and recycled to use on the next resurfacing project.
 
Check where resurfacing work is being done this summer on the council website.