Somerset Council’s Highways team have started to surface dress some roads as part of the summer maintenance programme.

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 with bitumen, covering it with stone chippings and then rolling it.

The work can only be carried out in dry weather, so the Council’s surface dressing programme is flexible, and dates can change at short notice.

Somerset Council’s Highways Maintenance manager Andrew Turner said: “Every summer we deliver this programme so that our network remains safe. Surface dressing is critically important in keeping our highways running efficiently.

“We are always looking to improve our public engagement alongside our service, so we can ensure our network is safe together. If you do spot a problem on the road, you can alert us quickly and easily by reporting it on our website.”

You can check which roads are being surface dressed here: www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/surface-dressing/.

If you need to report an overgrown verge, pothole or more, you can do so here: www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/report-a-problem-on-the-road/.

You can see dates of planned works here: www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/roadworks-and-travel/, and make sure to follow Travel Somerset on Twitter and Facebook.