Pavement resurfacing

Advance notice boards will be displayed on site showing the date(s) of the proposed works. The area where we are working will be closed to pedestrians and vehicles – for your safety and the safety of our staff.

Pavement resurfacing is weather dependent and can be delayed at short notice. If the weather conditions change and we are not able to carry out these works as planned, we will reschedule at the earliest opportunity. If we do have to postpone, we will use the signs along the road to let you know the new start date.

Before pavements are resurfaced, sites may require varying levels of preparatory works before the final surface is laid.

Preparatory works may include: 

• patching
• kerb and driveway repairs
• weed killing and removal
• adjusting utilities/meter covers
• installation of tactile paving at major pedestrian crossing points
• power washing of the surface to remove moss and loose material and detritus

If vegetation is growing from or on the boundary of private land and is encroaching over the back edge of the footway, this can affect the works. If this is the case, we will ask the land/property owners to cut back the vegetation to the highway boundary prior to the works starting and to keep it cut back thereafter. 

The area where we are working will be closed to pedestrians and vehicles – for your safety and the safety of our staff. 

On-street parking will be restricted so that we can access the footpaths to complete the works. Please locate alternative parking whilst the works are underway. 

Access to properties and businesses within the works site will be available subject to ongoing operations.

Our staff are on site to answer questions and to help you get in or out of the works site safely using the right route through our works.

However, access to your property may be temporarily unavailable for about 15 to 20 minutes (for example, if we are laying the new surface where you need to drive/walk).

We understand that businesses need to know that customers can still visit. So, where appropriate we will display information signs stating "Business open as usual".

Other services are notified of planned roadworks, for example your local council for bin collections.

Access would immediately be made available to any emergency vehicle.

Our planned maintenance strategy focuses on either a preventative maintenance approach or full replacement of the pavement depending upon a number of factors. Preventative measures include patching or resurfacing of pavements to extend the life of the asset and delaying the need to undertake more expensive deeper reconstruction treatments. Where pavements are beyond a simple less expensive resurfacing option, pavements may have to be fully reconstructed. 

The slurry mixture used to resurface pavements is a blend of: 

• bitumen emulsion
• fine aggregates
• water

It helps to provide a more even and slip-resistant surface, the mixture is spread over the existing pavement, levelled and then brushed to give the pavement a textured finish. It then sets to provide a new layer over the existing surface.

Resurfacing is quicker and less disruptive, the new surface can appear messy at first but quickly settles to provide a durable surface, sealing cracks, correcting minor undulations and preserving the overall life of the pavement. The bituminous slurry can stimulate weed growth but preventative steps are taken to kill and remove weeds prior to the works. 

The new surface may initially appear wet and patchy but this will diminish and become more uniform a few days after being laid.

Although the process is carried out relatively quickly, it is weather dependent and may be delayed due to rain or particularly cold weather.

The slurry remains wet for 2 to 4 hours after application (depending on weather conditions) during which time the pavement will remain closed to pedestrians, with restrictions on vehicular access.

Walking or driving on the new surface before it has set may result in permanent marking on your driveway and internal floors or carpets.

When driving on the new surface, please drive carefully and avoid turning or braking sharply. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to our teams on site who will be happy to assist. 

We identify which pavements to resurface based on:

• regular inspections
• annual surveys using specialist equipment
• reports from councillors, parish councils and community groups
• reports from residents – you can report a defect online

We maintain approx. 4000km of footway across Suffolk (excluding Public Rights of Way).

The level and rate of pavement deterioration varies depending upon many factors including construction depth and materials, age of construction, location and subsoil conditions, frequency and type of use, weather, network hierarchy and historic inspection and maintenance regime. 

The entire pavement network is divided into sections as defined by the UK Pavement Management System (UKPMS) there are over 19,000 separate sections that make up the highway pavement network. Pavement maintenance standards, in common with carriageway maintenance standards, may not necessarily be reflected by the road classification.

Pedestrian usage may mean that the pavement is more important than the categorisation of the road. Local factors such as the proximity of schools and shops are also important in this context. Therefore, a separate pavement hierarchy has been developed to assist with the prioritisation of the maintenance of pavements. All sections are periodically surveyed to assess their condition and then prioritised factoring in their condition, number of relevant customer reports raised and number of relevant defects raised following routine inspections. This information along with the overarching maintenance strategy, available budget, network hierarchy, site validation and other reported factors provides a basis on which sites are selected for planned maintenance programmes. 

A full pavement reconstruction is considered where sites have deteriorated to a point where they are beyond resurfacing and show signs of more extensive and deeper deterioration and shape loss.

Concrete, slabbed and block paved footways can become uneven, resulting in trip hazards that present a high risk to pedestrians. These types of defects can prove expensive to repair both in isolated areas and over longer lengths, therefore when these sites are selected for reconstruction, consideration is given to replacing the surface with a bituminous surface (where appropriate) to minimise the future maintenance burden these types of surfaces present.

Generally, planned pavement works are undertaken during the day but there may be exceptional circumstances where works are carried out overnight such as, where streets are particularly traffic sensitive or the operations may prove impractical or dangerous during the day when pedestrian usage is particularly high. This may be the case in busy town centre shopping areas.