Why are potholes such a problem this winter?

If you were deliberately trying to design the perfect conditions for potholes, you would choose exactly what we’ve experienced recently: 17 nights of freezing temperatures followed by over 20 days of wet weather – the longest period of continual wet weather in Oxfordshire since 2004.

In January alone, we saw more than 115mm of rainfall in Oxfordshire, followed by repeated freezing and thawing. February isn’t looking much better when it comes to rain. Water seeps into tiny cracks in the road surface, freezes overnight, expands, and breaks the surface apart. When this happens again and again across thousands of miles of road, potholes can appear faster than any council can realistically repair them.

It doesn’t stop the frustration when you see a pothole but it does explain why winters like this are always the toughest, even for well‑resourced highways authorities.

We might see more of this with climate change, so what is the solution?

Honestly? Planning and doing the job properly. Take a look at our blog on quality, not always quantity to find out more about how much thinking goes into fixing each pothole.

But practically this winter, we’ve been working with our contractor M Group to take specific action:

• We’ve increased the number of repair crews on the ground – we currently have 24 dedicated teams fixing potholes across the county. And we’re using sub contractors as well to reduce backlogs further.
• We’ve brought in additional specialist equipment, including Dragon Patchers and Bobcat teams – they deal with specific types of potholes, find out why no two potholes are the same.
• We’ve redirected resources away from some planned work to focus on safety-critical defects.
• Our inspectors and repair teams get together regularly so we can respond quickly to changing issues.

As a result, thousands of potholes have already been repaired this year, with crews working in all weathers to catch up after the cold snap.

Our highways crews are working in difficult conditions

Potholes are one of the issues residents contact me about most – and with good reason. They damage cars, make cycling dangerous and can leave people feeling like the problem is never properly dealt with. But spare a thought for the crews working on the roads.

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.