£5m investment and roads in Skegness area '˜still like a battlefield'

Many residents remain unconvinced a £5million investment in repairing the roads in Lincolnshire is making any significant improvement for those travelling around the Skegness area.
Spilsby is just one of the areas where residents are complaining about potholes, in Spite of a ?5million repairs programme by Lincolnshire County Council. ANL-180129-161928001Spilsby is just one of the areas where residents are complaining about potholes, in Spite of a ?5million repairs programme by Lincolnshire County Council. ANL-180129-161928001
Spilsby is just one of the areas where residents are complaining about potholes, in Spite of a ?5million repairs programme by Lincolnshire County Council. ANL-180129-161928001

Ninety thousand potholes were repaired across the county last year, according to Coun Richard Davies, Portfolio Holder Highways, Transport and ICT in his annual report.

Coun Davies said it had been a busy year in which the highways team carried out 34,000 jobs, including about 4,000 emergency repairs, around 97% of which were done within 24 hours.

He said: “Our maintenance work included a £5m year-long pothole patching programme, which eliminated some of the worst potholes across Lincolnshire and prepared some roads for future surface dressing.”

The Standard took to social media to ask readers if they had noticed an improvement in the roads.

Reader Steve Lawrence commented that Lincolnshire County Council had got it wrong, thinking using chippings ‘was a cheap way of re-surfacing the roads’.

He said: “What they failed to see was the long term damage this would do to the structure of the road.

“The old surface is just as damaged, and the damage spreads, the surface breaks up, and you end up with all the roads looking like a WW1 battlefield.”

Eleanor Stuart commented: “Well, Spilsby was half a job – and not a very good job.

“The road going into Spilsby where the deli is and the Nelson Butt looks like a quarry.

“Where you (Lincolnshire County Council) tarmac the High Street, that corner floods for England and spreads into the Butter Cross car park. So yeah you all praise yourselves job well done. Just yet to see the job.”

In his report, Coun Davies outlined work that had been done to make other transport more attractive and ease congestion. This included continued work on the £5.7m Go Skegness project, bringing the area improved bus lanes, bus stops and pedestrian crossings, along with new cycle routes and footways.

Coun Davies added the winter presented its own challenges for the team. He said: “Our team of 43 gritters were out battling the bad weather day and night, recently covering a distance equivalent to a round trip to the South Pole in just four days.”

He said 2018 promises to be equally busy.

“We will again be repairing tens of thousands of potholes across the county, and have some exciting projects lined up,” he said.

“Other plans include the £2m congestion-busting improvements planned for Lincoln’s busy Wragby Road junctions, which are due to start in February.”

l Keep up-to-date by visiting www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/roadworks.