Tarmac and JCB have successfully trialled JCB’s new pothole machine in partnership with Rutland County Council.
Tarmac’s highway services team carried out a full day of demonstrations with the PotholePro - which can repair a pothole in less than eight minutes - on a 140 square metre patch of asphalt at Ashwell Business Park in Rutland.
The PotholePro allowed the team to cut the defect, crop the edges and clean the hole with one machine – mechanising a job traditionally carried out by hand and reducing the number of people needed on site.
The machine is equipped with a 600mm-wide planer and integrated dust suppression system and its operator can plane a full carriageway from the kerb without repositioning. It also comes with a sweeper and hydraulic cropping tool, allowing a uniform hole to be prepared by the operator from the cab.
JCB said the machine can repair up to 250 square metres per day, equivalent to 700 potholes per month, and can rapidly relocate between sites with a 40km/h travel speed.
Tarmac delivers integrated highways services across Rutland, including the upkeep and resurfacing of the county’s 325 miles of roads and footways, as part of an ongoing contract.
Its director of highway services, Peter Hyde, said: ‘We’re pleased to say the JCB PotholePro proved to be a great success in Rutland. The machine is an effective solution in keeping the road network moving by filling a pothole in a quarter of the time it would take using traditional methods.’
Lucy Stephenson, portfolio holder for highways, transportation and road safety at Rutland CC said: ‘We take a very proactive approach to highways maintenance in Rutland and invest a lot of time and resources in preventative measures like surface dressing, patching and pothole repairs, that keep our roads in a good condition.
‘It’s been really interesting to see what this new machine can do and if it’s something that may be able to help us with our highway maintenance operations in the future.’
JCB PotholePro product specialist Ben Rawding said: ‘Just like when you have a filling, the dentist has to carefully remove all the decay so your tooth can be filled properly without recurrence of pain.
‘It’s just the same with a pothole: it needs to be prepared properly so the pothole doesn’t open up again within weeks. That’s exactly what the JCB PotholePro does; it cuts, crops and cleans the hole so a permanent repair can be carried out.’
