Its been a bumpy ride!

Posted on December 18, 2013

It’s no secret that everyone hates potholes, who hasn’t complained about them?  And the only thing worse than potholes are the long tailbacks caused by roadworks to fix them!  Well, now there is a solution.  There’s a machine, made by a company called Velocity, that can fix a pothole in three minutes.  Whilst this is an impressive claim, the machine has been trailed in North Somerset and Herefordshire and has proven very effective.

How does it work?  It’s so simple; the machine blows out warm air to dry and clean the hole; then it sprays a bonding coat and finally a fully coated aggregate is introduced, once it’s all in the hole it’s packed down and voilà!  A pothole fixed in three minutes.  There are plans to roll the machines out to more areas, so if you’re lucky you might see one…eventually.

So are there any other time-saving inventions that have emerged recently?  Yes!  Although only being used on the M25 at the moment, there is a new fast-setting concrete that is being trialled.

Statistics show there are around 1,500 hours of road closures on British motorways each year to let concrete dry; this could be reduced to just 300 with the new concrete, which has been borrowed from the aviation industry where it is used to fix pavements.

So how does it work?  A super-plasticiser is introduced to the concrete, as well as a curing accelerator which allows roadworks (which should take 48 hours to be completed) to be finished in just one night!

With all of these new inventions we should soon have super-smooth roads; and what’s more, road-works will be a rarity…Here’s hoping anyway!