By the end of August, our highways crews completed more than 1.2 million square metres of surface dressing across the county. That's about 120 miles in total, or 193 kilometres.

This means crews are well on track to reach their 1.5 million square metre goal by the end of the year. 

Surface dressing is used to prolong the life of roads that are already in a decent condition. In fact, roads not surface dressed can need replacing three to four times as often.

Our main surface dressing programme is carried out during the summer months, when the weather is warm and dry. We use a variety of different methods of surface dressing - from the loose stone chippings that are familiar to most people, to more modern treatments like micro asphalt.

Micro asphalt is laid in two layers and has more depth than other surface treatments. Once done, crews have to come back to reset drains, manhole covers and other ironwork as it will be laying low in the road. They also sweep up any excess chippings. We have had feedback in the past that micro-asphalt can look untidy--this can be true in some cases, but it is a treatment that settles down over time and looks like any other road surface.

Crews will continue with the surface dressing programme as long as the weather stays dry.

Works on a £1.4 million scheme on the busy A34 Stone Road in Stafford have now been completed.

The final phase of works started on August 14, and saw the road from Balfour Grove to Holmcroft Road resurfaced over the course of 6 weeks.

Works included planing off the carriageway, replacing ironwork, resurfacing the road, and finishing off with white lining. Crews completed the works on time, and the road is now fully open to traffic.

The scheme is part of a wider £30 million investment the county council is making into its roads over the next two years. The investment aims to improve major gateways into Staffordshire and is on top of an extra £5 million to fix highways defects across the county.

With the A34 being such a busy road, it was really important to ensure it could reopen on time. Crews worked incredibly hard to ensure that even through some fairly inclement weather, work could continue and the road could reopen on schedule.  Feedback so far from local residents has been really positive, and those who regularly use this stretch of the A34 will see and feel the benefit of driving on a brand-new road surface.

Photo caption: Cabinet Member for Highways David Williams and local county councillor Jonathan Price next to the A34 before it was fully reopened.

Crews from the county council's Leek depot have treated three local polar bears to a truckload of their favourite toys – traffic cones.

Peak Wildlife Park’s newest residents really enjoy playing with things that float so what better welcome gift than 30 damaged traffic cones that would have otherwise been thrown away?

Highways crew members, Wayne Bridgett and Paul Williams, from Leek handed over the cones to the wildlife park.

Zookeeper at Peak Wildlife Park, Reece Greenhow said: “These boys will spend hours and hours in that lake now this morning playing with those traffic cones.

“They won’t get bored of them quickly at all and any kind of toys that are polar bear proofed - even though they will destroy them quite quickly - are great toys for them.”

Eight-year-old Hope the polar bear and her two 20-month-old twin cubs, Nanook and Noori, appeared to be overjoyed with their new cones as they tossed them in the air and dived after them in the water.

Our highways teams work hard and are committed to doing work that benefits their local communities, so this was a great opportunity to do something good for the wildlife park and recycle old materials that would otherwise have been thrown away.

Residents in Mucklestone came to us with concerns that HGVs were using local roads through the village when being diverted from the A53. The diversion saw a big increase in the amount of large vehicles cutting through Mucklestone, damaging verges, trees and blocking Church Lane. In one instance, emergency services were prevented from travelling through the area.

County Councillor Paul Northcott used some of his divisional highways fund--a fund used by local councillors to address local highways issues--to put some 'unsuitable for HGV' signs in place to prevent large vehicles from using the road as a diversion. These signs were put in place a couple of months ago, and have already helped to reduce the number of large vehicles in the area. Feedback from residents has also indicated that the scheme is a success.

Paul said: "I'm so pleased that this scheme was actioned so quickly in response to the need to reduce the inappropriate HGVs using this Road as a cut through. It's a great example of how members can make a difference in their communities."

To find out more about the Divisional Highways Programme and how it can help fund improvements, please click on the button below.

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