Potholes boost
ROCESTER-BASED digger firm JCB has unveiled a new machine designed to repair potholes four times quicker than conventional systems.
The firm launched its Pothole Pro machine on Monday, which it says can fix a pothole in less than eight minutes and at half the cost of current solutions.
The product’s arrival follows a vow from Chancellor Rishi Sunak last November to invest £1.6bn to fix potholes in Britain and to “level-up” uneven roads.
The machine’s development has been personally led by JCB chairman Lord Bamford, and it went on trial in Stoke on Trent.
Lord Bamford said: “Potholes really are the scourge of our nation. Our country is quite rightly fixated on this dreadful problem and as a British manufacturer I am fixated on finding a solution.
“We simply cannot allow our road network to continue to be blighted by potholes. JCB’S solution is simple and cost effective and fixes potholes permanently, first time.
“Once the machine has done its job all the contractor then needs to do is just add tar.”
Stoke City Council has worked with JCB over the last 12 months as innovation partners to develop the Potholepro.
In initial testing, the machine completed 51 road repair jobs in 20 days, which would have taken a team of up to six operatives 63 days to complete normally.
Councillor Daniel Jellyman, the authority’s cabinet member for infrastructure, regeneration and heritage, said he had seen a 700% increase in productivity.
He said: “Potholes are a nuisance to motorists up and down the country and we’ve worked closely with JCB to come up with a solution to what is a national problem.
“In a time when every penny and pound counts for local authorities, we’re delighted to be at the forefront of developing and trialling new technologies and ways of working, especially ones which could save residents money.”
Tests have shown the JCB Potholepro can complete a pothole repair in less than eight minutes – equivalent to 700 potholes per month.
With a 40kmh travel speed, the machine can relocate itself between sites without additional transport costs.
The Potholepro works by cutting out the defect in the road, cropping the edges and cleaning the hole with one machine – mechanising jobs traditionally done by pothole gangs and delivering up to a 50% cut in daily costs.
It is equipped with a 600mm wide planer and integrated dust suppression system, enabling the operator to plane a full carriageway from the kerb, without repositioning.
The machine also comes with a sweeper bucket and hydraulic cropping tool, allowing a uniform hole to be prepared by the operator from the comfort their cab.
Councils get a request to fix a pothole every 46 seconds and more than £8.1 million was paid out in compensation to drivers last year for vehicle damage caused by potholes.