Potholes no match for new Roadmaster truck

WICKLOW County Council has taken delivery of a new Roadmaster Velocity Patching machine which will assist with road maintenance around the county.

The new machine complements an existing fleet of two older velocity patchers and will be deployed across the county road network.

The velocity patcher is a one-person operated machine that delivers a computer calibrated mixture of aggregate and binder directly into a pothole or road defect under high velocity, ensuring a cost-effective, reliable solution to problematic road maintenance issues.

As part of the hand-over and training process Wicklow County Council will trial a new performance-based carbon calculator with the new machine. The data collected will be used as a case study to demonstrate best practice in carbon management.

Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council, Cllr Aoife Flynn Kennedy, said: “The addition of the Velocity Patcher to our growing Road Maintenance Fleet along with the use of the carbon calculator trail illustrates Wicklow County Council’s commitment towards sustainable development”.

Receiving the keys to the new velocity patcher, Emer O’Gorman, Chief Executive of

Wicklow County Council, stated: “Our continuous improvement towards updating our works programme delivery is greatly helped by the purchase of this vehicle. It gives me great pleasure in launching this new vehicle into the Council’s existing fleet.”

Leonora Earls, Director of Services, added: “I wish to acknowledge our suppliers, Archway Products Ltd, on the timely delivery of this Velocity patcher which provides a much safer work environment for our drivers and operatives”.

The cost of the velocity patcher, manufactured by Archway Products Ltd, was partially funded by a grant from the Department of Transport.