North Yorkshire Council encourages people to report potholes online
North Yorkshire Council has issued an appeal via social media for people to report potholes on its website.
A Facebook post by the authority stated that although third party sites are available it’s best to report potholes or highway issues on its website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/roads-and-pavements/potholes-and-road-condition-issues.
A council spokesperson said: “When we receive a report our highways officers examine the problem to decide how urgently we need to act.
“We prioritise the repair of potholes based on the level of risk to road users.
“That usually depends on how serious the damage to the road is, and how busy the road is.”
Not all roads are NYC’s responsibility – Motorways and trunk roads such as the A1, A1(M), M62, A66, A66(M), A64, A168 (Dishforth to Thirsk) and A19 (north of Thirsk) must be reported to National Highways.
NYC prioritises the repair of potholes based on the level of risk to road users.
This is based on a number of factors including the depth, size and location of the pothole on the road; the volume of traffic; and the speed of the road.
If a pothole has been inspected and assessed as needing attention, it will be added to a programme of work.
Occasionally temporary repairs are necessary, for example in wet or icy conditions a permanent repair wouldn't work - the hot bitumen would instantly cool before adequate compaction could be achieved and the ice or water would also prevent the repair bonding to the road.
Permanent repairs take more time and, depending on their location, may require a road closure or temporary traffic lights to be brought in
Potholes, or a series of them, may be symptomatic of a more general, underlying problem on the stretch of road - this requires further investigation and potential resurfacing of an entire road section, and is a larger job and so can't be done immediately
The council spokesperson said: “If you wish to report a pothole or other highway fault, we encourage you to do so via our online reporting system.
“Reports made on our website are cheaper for the council to process and give you a speedier resolution where we are able to repair the fault, as they are immediately logged on to our system.
“Reports received from third party sites can take up more staff time and do not always provide all the information we require.
“As we receive hundreds of emails it can take time to get to your report and log it in our system.”
Visit https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/roads-and-pavements/potholes-and-road-condition-issues to report a pothole near you.