Repairing Swindon's roads

There are a number of different approaches to road maintenance the Council undertake, which typically depend on what best suits the situation but also what the Council can afford within the budgets made available for road maintenance.

These include:

Reconstruction and strengthening

Reconstruction and strengthening involves replacing a substantial depth of road surface, sometimes using different & improved material layers, and is considered when there are extensive areas of structural failure.

Reconstruction works are very expensive and so rarely undertaken. Where they are carried out the depth of reconstruction is often a compromise between renewing the road structure fully and what can actually be afforded. They are also the most disruptive to road users as they will mainly require a long road closure duration to carry out the work safely.

Resurfacing

This involves replacing the road’s top layer and is used where the surface has failed or worn out in large areas. Often there is a need to replace some of the underlying asphalt layer too.

The surface layer is removed and replaced, typically to a depth of 40-50mm and a new layer of asphalt is laid to extend the life of the road and ensure it remains safe for use.

Resurfacing will typically require a few days road closure to enable the works to be carried out safely, and on busy routes is often done overnight.

Once completed, resurfacing on main roads typically has a life span of between 10 and 20 years.

Surface treatment

Surface treatment involves the coating of the existing road surface with a mixture of bitumen and stone to seal the road surface to prevent any further deterioration, and to renew the surface texture and grip. These treatments often involve some prior patch repairs, are usually much cheaper than asphalt resurfacing, but do not last as long.

The Borough has historically used two types:

• For higher speed, rural roads surface dressing is often used. This involves spraying the road with bitumen and rolling new stone into the existing road surface
• For urban roads or roads through villages micro-asphalt is often used. This is a thin layer of asphalt material spread over the top of the existing surface and rolled

Surface treatment is a much quicker process and will often only require a day or two of road closures to enable the works to be carried out safely.

Once completed, surface treatment on main roads typically has a life span of between seven and 10 years.

Patching and thermal patching

Where smaller sections or areas of a road have failed and created a number of potholes, we will considering patching work. This means we will need to dig the road up and replace a larger, often deeper quantity of material than a simple pothole repair.

Currently we’re using a new method to patch our roads called thermal patching. Thermal patching works by heating up the loose material around potholes and mixing this with a small amount of asphalt, rather than cutting the asphalt from the road. It reheats the existing road surface, allows our team to make quicker repairs by reusing the surface material of the road, adds a special binder to strengthen the repair and smooths and compacts the surface for a longer-lasting finish.

Road condition surveys are undertaken on a regular basis across the whole road network in the Borough. The survey results are combined with information such as road hierarchy (how important they are to the network), speed limit, heavy vehicle usage, accident records, public reports and an engineer’s inspection, to produce a prioritised list of roads considered in need of major treatment.Separate budgets are allocated every year to major roads and minor roads, and monies within each budget are then allocated to various treatment types and road hierarchies. The higher priority sites from the list are then included within a proposed annual programme and provisional further two-year programme of work within the Local Transport Plan, which is agreed by councillors.

Read our Local Transport Plan (PDF) to find out more about the highways and transport capital programme for 2025/26.

Information collected from the road surface in regular road condition surveys gives a good indication of where there are underlying failures or possible weaknesses along a road. Further investigations are undertaken once a road scheme has been identified as in need of work.

Within the Highways department we have a relativity small team with a limited budget to carryout maintenance works. This means that not all repairs can be carried out when needed, therefore creating a backlog of work.

More funding and resource would be needed to fully tackle this backlog. In Swindon, it is estimated that it would take more than £50m to repair our backlog. This financial year we have a budget of £5.75m which we are using to carry out road resurfacing and reconstruction work, reactive repairs (including potholes and patching work), road marking refreshes, upgrading traffic signals and more.

All current and upcoming work by the Council, utility companies and other organisations can be found by using the One.Network website.

The process of designing and delivering major maintenance works is fairly lengthy, often taking between six and nine months, with no complications. Many things can delay road maintenance projects further, including the following:

• Frequently there is a conflict between a development proposal or public utility works where the Council will usually delay road maintenance until everything else is complete
• Sometimes when a maintenance scheme is fully designed and priced it is considered no longer suitable or affordable for the Council
• Some critical schemes may increase in scale and cost and require more funding, and so other schemes may have to be delayed
• Some maintenance treatments are seasonal, and most are weather dependant, which can mean if there are delays to work programmes the works may need to be delayed for many months until the next season
• Poor weather can also have a knock-on effect, delaying work from starting or being completed
• Scheme designs try to find all the likely problems in the road before works start, but as much of the work is underground this is often not possible and work durations on site can increase significantly when something unexpected occurs

Prior to each and every scheme starting, the Council undertakes site inspections and requests utility information from any possible utility companies that could be within the works area. When we receive the Statutory Undertakers records, we review and share with the contractor undertaking the works.

We have the option to work around these known services, or design the issue out if possible. Unfortunately, with an extensive network of utility operators who have changed over time, some of these records may not have been kept up to date.

This means there is always a possibility that unchartered utility cables and pipes can be unearthed. If unchartered utilities are found, the Council liaises with the provider to agree the next steps and record the utilities for future works so this doesn’t happen in this area again.

Roads are only relined when they have faded to a certain level and dependent on how important they are. For example, give way or stop markings will be relined if they are less than 50 per cent clear and parking spaces will only be relined if they are less than 30 per cent clear.

In 2024 we carried out:

• 10,230 pothole fixes
• 90 carriageway patches
• 169 footway repairs
• 262 masonry repairs (walls, curbs, etc)
• 292 repairs to street furniture
• repainting of road markings in 297 areas
• cleaning of 13,747 gullys

Once a scheme has been approved, the team apply for provisional road space, which is booked on the one.network website and is available to all residents.

If a road closure is required, an application is made for a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order and this is advertised in the local press, for example, the Swindon Advertiser

As works approach, stakeholders are notified through various means including, letters, on our website, advanced signage and, for larger projects, we also provide public drop in sessions.

We notify everyone who we think may be affected by the works including Councillors, internal council departments, local businesses, residents, bus operators, neighbouring authorities and special interest groups, such as Swindon Blind Association.

We also liaise with utility providers to see if they have any upcoming work which can be delivered in coordination, to minimise the impact on Swindon residents.