With the state of Britains roads getting worse by the day, it seems a match for the holes in local Authority budgets to deal with the potholes.
However, British construction firm JCB believe they have come up with a faster, cheaper solution to the problem. That’s as long as you can afford the initial outlay of course.
Their latest yellow machine aims to fix a pothole is just eight minutes, with a cost of around £30 a pop. Traditionally, such repairs can take hours and can cost over double the cost of the new JCB machine.

Damage done

Recent years have witnessed a soaring of repair costs for UK drivers. The damage is all too often caused by potholes and the state of the roads means it’s only getting worse. For Local Authorities it means yet more fines and payout to drivers.

The Pothole Pro has already fixed over 23,000 miles worth of roads. With plenty of evidence of the successes, JCB is now taking orders from across the world.

Three in one

This JCB Pothole Pro is a unique three in one solution. It is specifically designed to sort out any pothole repair or large reinstatement operations as efficiently and economically as possible. Another project aim was to ensure repairs are permanent.

The machine comes with three attachments to cut, crop and clean. It means there’s no need for additional specialist equipment or extra manpower, just some hot tar.

Councils across Britain, including Stoke-on-Trent and Coventry City have already highlighted the success of the Pothole Pro.

You can see it at work here:

 

Tar mate

When it was first trialled, the machine fixed three years’ worth of potholes in just four months.

With a Department for Transport (DfT) report in November last year revealing there had been no improvement in the nations roads for more than two years, this tool could prove to be something of a magic solution.

One third of all local roads in England are now in need of urgent maintenance and repair. Thi is th conclusion of statistics collected from 109 local authorities.

Six-in-ten drivers believe the condition of local roads they use regularly is worse than a year ago, according to an RAC survey. A similar proportion (55%) complain the standard of pothole repairs is – at best – ‘poor’.

An increasing majority of drivers also believe their local roads had got worse,  2% from 58% in 2021 and by 8% from 52% in 2020.

The RAC’s ‘Pothole Index’ suggests drivers are around 1.5 times more likely to suffer a pothole-related breakdown than they were in 2006.