'11,000 repairs and counting': Highways heroes keep county roads rolling

From July 1 to September 30, LCC Highways teams tackled a whopping 11,191 faults — that’s an average of 123 a day, seven days a week.

The reactive safety works crews have been absolute stars, patching 7,349 potholes (including edge potholes), fixing 324 gully grates and manhole covers, and sorting out 965 footway defects. They also replaced five gully pots, repaired 2,748 kerbs, cleared 462 overgrown visibility spots, and repaired or replaced 302 signs. Not bad going, right?

Meanwhile, the minor works gangs have been cracking on with bigger jobs that need a little more elbow grease. Over the quarter, they completed 581 larger-scale projects — over six per day — covering 146 tree jobs, 197 carriageway sites, 221 drainage jobs, 10 kerbing repairs, and 88 footway repairs.

Traffic signals haven’t been left out either. Out of 73 emergency faults, 72 were fixed within the crucial two-hour window (98.6%), and overall 98.8% of all signal faults were cleared on time. On top of that, 38 requests to switch off signals for roadworks were actioned, and several major upgrades went ahead under the Traffic Signal Capital Refurbishment Programme, including:

Brayford Way / Campus Way, Lincoln — junction refurbishment with better pedestrian and cycle facilities

Ryhall Road (St George’s Ave & Melbourne Rd), Stamford — Puffin crossing upgrades alongside resurfacing

Tritton Road / Dixon Street, Lincoln — full refurbishment as part of Western Growth Corridor works

Brook Street (Albion Place), Grantham — Puffin crossing widened and upgraded outside King’s School

Coun Michael Cheyne, Executive Member for Highways, said: “These figures are really encouraging and highlight the huge effort our teams are putting in to improve Lincolnshire’s roads. But we’re not resting on our laurels — we know there’s still plenty to do.”

He added: “We’re thinking outside the box with initiatives like the JCB Pothole Pro trial and the Roadmender Elastomac machinery to find new ways to tackle our unique road challenges. Lincolnshire covers 5,500 miles of roads, across some of the trickiest ground in the country, so keeping them safe and smooth is no small feat. The teams are meeting that challenge head-on.”

For motorists and pedestrians alike, it’s clear the county’s highways crews have been putting in the hours, patching, repairing, and upgrading wherever they can — a real reminder that behind every smooth drive or safe walk is a lot of hard graft, dedication, and grit.