Council chiefs launch £12m pothole blitz
ALMOST 1,000 potholes in Rochdale are to be repaired in a massive blitz on roads and pavements.
Town hall bosses have signed off on a huge £12m scheme to improve the borough’s streets.
Work is due to start in September and is expected to take about two and a half years to complete. A total of 959 repairs will be made on 48 miles of road.
The bumper cash injection was agreed by the council in February and a list of roads was then drawn up using condition and accident data, before being approved by councillors.
Speaking in February council chiefs said the aims was to make Rochdale’s roads ‘the best in Greater Manchester’.
Utility companies such as gas, electricity and water providers will also be barred from digging up newly-repaired roads unless they are carrying out emergency work.
Some £2m of the £12m fund will be spent on footpaths.
Council leader Allen Brett said: “The state of the roads is a serious concern for many of our residents and something they have to deal with every day.
“This huge additional investment will allow us to carry out a series of repairs, from fixing potholes to full scale resurfacing and other longterm repairs, on 959 roads, to get them in good condition for years to come.”
The work will be carried out in addition to the council’s standard annual repair programme, which will see £1.2m spent on repairs across almost 15 miles of roads.
The Rochdale roads that are to be worked on in the programme are below: