Highway engineers in the southeast of England are on alert for another bout of drought-induced road damage given the region’s exceptionally low levels of groundwater.
Last week the Met Office confirmed that parts of southern England had ‘the driest two consecutive winters’ in 80 years, prompting the Environment Agency to warn of severe water shortages by summer.
For highway engineers, the concern is that high summer temperatures acting on already partially dried out clay soils under road will spur a sharp rise in surface cracking and collapse.
Following the summer drought of 2003, eight authorities in the southeast and east of England received a one-off grant of £14M from the Government to tackle the widespread damage (Surveyor, 26 February 2004). The Local Government Association called for an extra £30M nationally each year to deal with the extra repairs required by hotter, drier summers.
‘Our expectation is that we will suffer again this summer,’ said Gary Fitch, asset manager of Kent county council, ‘particularly on our Weald clay.’ The county received £1.9M in 2004 to repair the damage, mostly to old country lanes that were not designed roads and lacked proper foundations. These remained most susceptible, he said.
There was no evidence of such damage yet, but county inspectors and engineers would be keeping a close eye on the situation, he added.
This was echoed in East Sussex, which experienced the worst problems last time, securing an extra £4.5M in aid. ‘We will watch it very carefully,’ said environment director ~Bob Wilkins~
But a more immediate concern was the impact of water rationing on road rolling, gulley emptying and the many other highway activities requiring water. Standpipes for domestic water consumers are already seen as an option. The county would seek assurances on supplies from water companies, he said.