Somerset Council’s road treatment team is surface dressing the Obridge Viaduct and part of Priorswood Road in Taunton this week.

Road surface specialist operator Kiely Bros will be doing the work during the during the evening of Thursday 22 August from 7pm until 11.30pm.

A closure will need to be in place during these hours for the safety of the public and workforce.

Surface dressing is a nationally recognised maintenance technique for sealing a road, improving skid resistance, and preventing water getting under the surface. This is crucial to help stop potholes forming. It works by coating an existing road surface with bitumen, covering it with stone chippings and then rolling it. It can only be carried out in dry weather, so the programme is flexible, and dates can change at short notice.

Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Highways and Digital, Councillor Richard Wilkins said:

We appreciate there is likely to be some disruption which is why the team is carrying out the work in the evening. It’s vital we do this work to prolong the life of the road and cut down on the number of defects to the surface over the winter period.

This year’s programme is the biggest in at least four years and will see 1,000,000 sqm of road surface dressed, equivalent to 141 football pitches. This treatment is a greener and more cost-effective form of maintenance, helping to improve the road network whilst emitting significantly less carbon compared to alternative solutions.

As well as surface dressing the team from Kiely will be carrying out footway crack sealing, preparatory drainage, patching and cleaning, as well as post surfacing road markings, studs and high friction surfacing.

For more information and to see an interactive map, visit the Council’s Surface Dressing page.

During the spring and early summer, you may have seen an innovative new vehicle out and about, the Multipatcher. You can find out more about the Multipatcher by watching the following video:

If you spot a problem on the road you can report it quickly and easily via the Council’s Report a problem on the road webpage.

To see dates of planned works visit the Council’s Roadworks and travel information page, and follow @TravelSomerset on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook for live travel updates and travel news.