It’s quality not always quantity with pothole repairs

When you see the same roads deteriorating again and again, it’s easy to feel like no one cares and nothing is changing.

But there are plenty of us out there who do care. And a huge amount of work is going on every day to tackle potholes and improve the condition of Oxfordshire’s roads.

If we can, we prevent them in the first place

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: the places with the best roads aren’t the ones that fix the most potholes; they’re the ones that don’t get them in the first place.

Oxfordshire has some of the busiest roads in the country, with 4.79 billion vehicle miles travelled in 2024. Heavy traffic puts huge strain on road surfaces.

Reactive pothole repairs are expensive and inefficient. Preventative maintenance, such as resurfacing and surface dressing, is far better value and stops potholes forming in the first place.

Last year, we treated over 1,400,000 sqm of carriageway, whether in full-scale resurfacing programmes or preventative treatments, like surface dressing which prolongs the life of the roads treated by 8-10 years. This year, we have a similar programme planned.

But...if a repair is needed, a bad repair is almost worse than no repair at all.

That’s why Oxfordshire carries out post repair inspections, with a proportion of completed works checked for quality and durability. If a repair fails, it is put right – and contractors are held accountable.

Since April 2025, we’ve carried over 1,800 quality inspections – including 209 in January alone.

Crews also fix additional defects they spot while on site, even if those weren’t part of the original job.

We use the right method for the right pothole

Working with our highways contractor M Group it depends on the situation. But the method is the key to success.

• Traditional repair crews: fix potholes by cutting out the damaged area, cleaning it, refilling it with hot material, sealing the edges and compacting it.
• Dragon Patcher: The Dragon Patches uses heat to quickly clean and seal potholes using hot bitumen and stone.
• Bobcat crews: using specialist equipment, these teams can remove and repair larger damaged areas much faster than manual methods.

We want to do a permanent repair first time wherever possible. In fact, the vast majority of Oxfordshire’s pothole repairs are now fully cut out, sealed and compacted, rather than temporary “make safe” fixes.

Lets work together to improve our roads

• Report potholes on FixMyStreet.
• Upload photos. If they show the size (with something for comparison like a set of keys alongside them) and the location (so we can tell where they are in the road), we can assess them more easily. That saves us time because we don’t need to send out a crew to check them. So, by just including a couple of photos, you can help speed things up.
• Report early – small defects are easier and cheaper to fix.
• Bear with us when traffic management is needed to do the job properly.