The UK’s roads take a lot of hammering – according to the RAC Foundation, there were 41.4 million licensed vehicles in the UK at the end of March 2024.

If you think about how many times a week, or even a day, these 41.4 million cars make journeys, it’s no surprise that our roads sometimes need a little TLC to keep them smooth and safe.

Maintaining roads is absolutely vital to improve road safety, reduce congestion and manage traffic flow for millions of motorists across the country. At Minster, we have a big part to play in this, offering services including resurfacing, pothole repair and 24/7 emergency repairs. 

What are the different types of road maintenance? 

Pothole repair 

Potholes are perhaps one of road users’ biggest bugbears, with the potential to cause costly damage to vehicles if not repaired quickly and effectively. What may start out as a tiny crack can quickly grow to a few feet wide and many inches deep.

At Minster, we repair hundreds of thousands of potholes across the UK each year, working closely with local authorities and supply chain partners to respond quickly and provide permanent repair solutions. 

In 2017, we invested in a new custom-built mobile asphalt machine to enable us to fill more potholes, faster than ever. Our Europaver 500 allows our road repair teams to make new asphalt at each location. 

We also go one step further and ensure our pothole repair jobs are as sustainable as possible, using recycled materials to fill potholes. One example of this is Foambase, a cold lay bitumen product that’s produced from road planings and material obtained from other projects. This means we can fix potholes with planings from road surfaces we’ve already repaired. 

Resurfacing 

Over time, roads become worn and develop cracks and holes, and road markings also become faded and cracked, which can lead to confusion for drivers. Because of this, roads will periodically need fully resurfacing.

This is a process that can’t be rushed and must be done properly to ensure the resurfaced road is safe and durable. It involves removing the top layer of road, sweeping and spraying the road, laying the new sub-base, laying and rolling the new surface, and line marking the new road. 

At Minster, we support at every stage of the road resurfacing process and, as a member of the Institute of Asphalt Technology (IAT), we’re trusted to resurface roads to the highest standard. 

Emergency maintenance

When road damage occurs as a result of a road traffic accident or a fire, it’s important the road is repaired as soon as possible  – not only to make it safe for use, but also to avoid further disruption to traffic flow.

Because this kind of road damage can happen at any time, we’re always on hand to offer 24/7 emergency road repairs across Lincolnshire, and work alongside Lincolnshire County Council and leading international infrastructure group, Balfour Beatty, to do this. 

When roads are in need of emergency repair, the damaged surface must be removed and replaced with a new surface. Where possible, we recycle the old, damaged surface into a shiny, new one – right there on site. And for smaller jobs, we still aim for zero waste, with planings removed from the old surface being recycled for use on other projects.

What does motorway maintenance involve?

Because motorways are such busy, high-speed roads, maintenance of these roads has to be planned very carefully for the safety of both the road workers and road users. 

Often, works are done overnight when motorways are quieter and can be completely closed without causing too much disruption. If this isn’t possible, then it’s also an option to resurface the road lane by lane, so that motorists can still use the carriageway while works are taking place. 

Motorways can be resurfaced using a variety of methods including surface dressing, asphalt overlay, micro-surfacing and slurry sealing – depending on the level of maintenance required. 

To find out more about how we maintain the UK’s roads, or to enquire about our services, get in touch with our team.