Swansea’s pothole crews have filled more than 2,300 holes since April, the council leader says, and the council puts the total for the year so far at 5,656.
Cllr Rob Stewart, the council leader, gave the April figure in a post thanking people for using the online reporting service, and said the crews were working alongside the full resurfacing programme and the smaller repair schemes.
He said: “We aim to carry out a repair within 48 hours of a pothole being reported. A high volume of reports means we may not always get them all done within that timeframe, but we are working hard to respond to reports and keep motorists on the move.”
The pressure was heaviest in the winter, when the council said up to 150 new potholes a day were being reported. January’s £300,000 blitz had four crews filling around 100 a day.
By late August weekly pothole reports were down from around 350 to about 60, Cllr Andrew Stevens, the cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, told councillors. His written answer also put the backlog of bigger jobs at around £70m.
Where the £14m is going
The bigger jobs sit in the resurfacing programme, which the council says is worth £14m this year and is its largest in recent years.
Mansel Road in Bonymaen was the latest, the council said, lined up for overnight resurfacing between 19 and 23 October, with the work done between 8pm and 5am to keep buses and daytime traffic moving.
Before that, it said, the teams finished Cae Mansel Road, the link between Gowerton and Three Crosses.
Since April the council also lists Cwm Level roundabout, Wimmerfield Drive in Killay and Roseland Road in Waunarlwydd as done. So are Vardre Road in Clydach, Morfydd Street in Morriston and the Uplands Terrace, Richmond Terrace and Cwmdonkin Drive run.
Its Facebook page adds Townhill, Carmarthen Road and Bishopston to the places where work has been done this year.
Cllr Stevens said: “Full resurfacing schemes are planned carefully to ensure we are upgrading those roads most in need. Alongside the larger schemes ongoing in the city, our maintenance teams are also completing smaller repairs in every ward throughout the city.”
The small resurfacing scheme, which does short stretches rather than whole roads, had a top-up this year for areas the council said were in urgent need of repair.
Tell the council what you think
Roads are one of the things the council is asking about in its resident survey, and it is urging people who care about them to fill it in. Comments on Facebook, it points out, cannot be counted.
Cabinet signed off £14.5m for roads in June, which it described as a record, after an extra £2m was added for resurfacing. Cllr Stevens has said part of this year’s budget is being kept back for emergency repairs over the coming winter.
Cllr Stevens has described a pothole repair as “a temporary fix for problem places while we plan more full repairs at a later date”, with the full resurfacing programme published on the council’s website.
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