OLDHAM Council is investing £6.2m upgrading the borough’s 535 miles of roads as part of their 2018 Highways Improvement Programme.
The 12-month project aims to ensure the surfaces of streets, roads and cul-de-sacs are high quality, durable and safe.
Recent harsh winters and wet summers have left surfaces across the borough damaged and in need of repair and resurfacing work.
The intensive programme is in addition to the on-going pothole repairs.
Specialist teams are now out across Oldham making sure hundreds of miles of carriageway are fit for purpose and brought up to standard.
Councillor Fida Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: “Our borough is more vulnerable than most to the challenges that are being experienced across the country, with more traffic and harsher weather leading to more potholes and damaged highways.
“As a council it is our duty to provide good quality roads for residents and motorists to help improve access and driving conditions.
“Despite the unprecedented ongoing cuts to our funding and well-known financial challenges, we recognise it is vital to continue to invest in our key infrastructure wherever possible.
“It is never easy to find the money needed to do this but we are investing an additional £6.2 million in making your roads better this year.
“We are already on site working on some of these schemes so people should start to see the benefits and improvements from this pretty quickly.
“As always with infrastructure works, this may mean some temporary inconvenience in terms of traffic disruption.
“But we will be monitoring this closely to ensure that we keep this to an absolute minimum.
“That short-term pain will be offset by better driving conditions across the borough as we tackle this backlog and I would like to thank local people in advance for their patience.
“We’re doing our bit by investing this £6.2 million but we also need your help.
“These repairs are in addition to our regular work to fix potholes and other defects, which we rely on people doing your bit and reporting to us.
“Together – with this additional investment and your patience and help – we can deliver better roads that continue to make Oldham a more attractive place to live, work and invest.
“Once we have completed the individual schemes we will be contacting residents asking them for their feedback on the work and this will help us improve how we work in the future.”
OMBC already operates a 24-hour repair promise on priority routes in, around and out of the borough are fully repaired and refurbished, and kept in a good state of repair.
By reporting defects on these routes you can help the council take appropriate action, whether it be fixing potholes or resurfacing, within 24 hours.
To find out more about which roads will be improved over the next few months in the first phase of works go online: www.oldham.gov.uk/highways2018
To report a pothole visit Oldham Council’s website: www.oldham.gov.uk/potholes