Velocity Road Patching

[SweptVolume]

The roads around my village are appalling and have been getting worse since I moved here 2.5 years ago. They are minor C roads - effectively lanes - but wide enough for a white line so they tend to get used like main roads, particularly at rush hour.

There are potholes of course, but also collapsed foundations, dips, bumps, great cracks down the centre etc. The council have even takes to erecting "Failed road surface" signs here and there, as if we didn't know! Basically typical British roads...

Today, they have shut the road and are systematically filling in every defect using a big Velocity Road Patching lorry. In essence, it blasts tarmac from a tube out the back and supposedly fills in all imperfections.

This is never going to be as good as a proper cut and resurface, but does anyone have any experience of these repairs. Do they work? Do they last? Or is it just a high tech equivalent of the old wheel barrow of tar that lasts about a month?

https://www.velocitypatching.com

[Haltamer]

Sounds like "Surface dressing", which is usually a poor "bandaid" in my opinion - I can think of a few roads that I've been down which have been treated, and they usually deteriorate fairly quickly again.

Still, better than nothing!

[westmoorfarm]

They did our lane last year with a “dragon patcher” which is the same principle - high pressure tar and chips sprayed into the potholes.

It’s only a single lane but has a lot of heavy farm traffic and so far it’s holding up pretty well, certainly better than the wheelbarrow and back of a spade treatment.

[Krikkit]

It's better than the ones where they cover the road with a film of tar and chuck stones at it.

Not as good as a proper repair though. A few roads round here have had that done as a prelude to a real repair the following year, so cross your fingers.

[dazwalsh]

Krikkit said:

It's better than the ones where they cover the road with a film of tar and chuck stones at it.

Not as good as a proper repair though. A few roads round here have had that done as a prelude to a real repair the following year, so cross your fingers.

They did this on a major road out of our village, only for it to go to st about 8 months later and require patching up again. Waste of time and money.

[Higgs boson]

SweptVolume said:

This is never going to be as good as a proper cut and resurface, but does anyone have any experience of these repairs. Do they work? Do they last? Or is it just a high tech equivalent of the old wheel barrow of tar that lasts about a month?

Those machines originated in Australia.

Obviously the climate is very different from that of the UK, and that, to my mind, is a very big factor in the success, or otherwise, of the repair.

If the work is carried out properly, at the right time of year, then the job will last. But, getting it done properly is the issue!

The emulsion that is used (blown out of the machine) is water based. So you can imagine, trying to repair a hole with water in it, or running through it, is not going to work out too well.

In the colder months, patches can last for as little as few days - due, in part, to shoddy workmanship (workpersonship?), but not helped by freezing overnight.

As the vehicles cannot carry a roller, compaction can only be achieved by running the lorry's wheels over the patch. This takes time (time=money), so many operatives/companies might not be too interested.

Furthermore, a layer of clean, dry stone should be blown over the compacted patch. This prevents the surface being plucked by other vehicles that will drive over the patch - in some cases, only seconds after the patcher has driven off.

So, in summer, on a warm, dry day, blow any debris out of the hole, blast a tack coat into the hole, use decent emulsion, in the correct ratio to clean, dry stone (stone can often be stored in the open!), build up in layers, dry stone over the top, and then compact.

If that method is followed, there's a fighting chance that the repair will be decent.

Any variation, and the likelihood is that the patch will fail in short order.

Caveat ... traffic type, and volume, also have a huge bearing on longevity.

[Riley Blue]

This video is worth watching, the process is nothing like surface dressing:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WL0uZ1YFrT0?rel=0&am...

[swisstoni]

Done locally to me for a few years.
Some patches last. Some don’t survive a winter.
If I had to guess, I’d say a 40% success rate.

[trickywoo]

Riley Blue said:

This video is worth watching, the process is nothing like surface dressing:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WL0uZ1YFrT0?rel=0&am...

It’s still a bodge though.

[SweptVolume]

Thanks all. Re. the design being optimised for warm climates, perhaps that's why they left it until July to do anything? Sadly, this is now prime tractor rushing around season, so if the repairs are not well set soon, those massive tyres will soon dig them back out.

Quite frankly though, I think this is the best we're going to get, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's certainly better than nothing.