Road maintenance

Most of the time we will fix potholes on our roads through a process called jetpatching. This fills the holes with a tar and stone mix. We do this as it is a cost-efficient way to maintain the road before we schedule and budget for larger road repair works.

When potholes are reported they are assessed for their risk based on their location and their size and added to our works program. Potholes can be reported through report a road issue. 

Over 450km of our areas roads are unsealed (gravel). Most of these are graded every 12 months, or every 6 months for the roads with more traffic dependant on the road condition. The grading process reshapes the road by bringing the gravel from the sides back to the middle, removing potholes and reducing lumps and bumps. Grading is better carried out in dry weather as wet weather can cause the road to become boggy or slushy.

We need your help in monitoring the state of our roads; if you come across a road that needs immediate attention, request an inspection by reporting a road issue.

Resealing is a preventative measure to protect our roads, like paint protection on your car, but it is usually targeted to roads that are in fair to good condition and need surface treatment.

We spray roads with a new coat of bitumen which has to set before a final coat is put on. There will be some loose stones while these layers set so we ask motorists to please drive carefully as per the road conditions.

Often resealing is a two-step process and waterproofs the road to minimise the potential for potholes and cracks to form. It's a great way to reduce our road maintenance costs by extending the service life of the road. Resealing costs about one tenth of a full reconstruction and can give us an extra 10-15 years out of a road!

We engage a specialist to help us undertake an independent survey of our roads to help us identify the roads that are suitable to be resealed, and which roads may need more extensive reconstruction. It's important to note, not all roads are suitable for the resealing program, or they may not require treatment at a particular point in time.

Each year we carry out planned, proactive maintenance as part of our Annual Road Renewal Program. We target roads all throughout our region as part of this program of works.