Machine to re-lay road surfaces using 4,000C heat to be trialled in South Staffordshire
A method of fixing road defects by using intense heat is being trialled by council chiefs in South Staffordshire over the next two weeks.
Staffordshire County Council will be using the Thermal Road Repairs machine to heat road surfaces to more than 4,000C (7,232F).
It uses a combination of thermal technology and solar power to heat the road surfaces to allow crews to better re-lay the surface.
If successful, the machine could be rolled out across the county, to help increase the amount of road maintenance that can be carried out during the winter months.
Councillor David Williams, cabinet member for highways, said: "We’re always on the lookout for new technology that helps our highways crews work smarter and makes the most out of our budget. Our road maintenance does continue throughout the winter months, but this often depends on the temperature and weather conditions.
“By heating up the road, this patching machine allows us to fix defects in some of the coldest conditions. If this trial is successful, this has the potential to help us step up our winter maintenance programme and fix more defects throughout the season.
“This is just one of the many innovative machines we will be trialling this year, to make our road repairs more efficient and enable us to do more during the winter months.”
The machine is provided by Thermal Road Repairs, and is being trialled in South Staffordshire for two weeks.
