Up to 40 crews perform pothole repairs daily on republican roads in the Vitebsk region

RUP "Vitebskavtodor" services almost 3 thousand km of republican highways in the northern region.

Currently, specialists call pothole elimination the number one task, as the number of potholes on the road network has increased after winter. Among the reasons for this are unfavorable weather conditions, as well as multiple exceedances of the maintenance intervals for road surfaces and structures, as noted by "Vitebskavtodor". The maximum volume of potholes is observed on transport arteries with high traffic intensity: M1, M3, M8, R49, R46, R20.

"Pothole repair work is carried out on the entire serviced network of highways and does not stop for a single day, including weekends. All available human resources and specialized equipment are involved. Daily work of up to 40 crews is organized, depending on weather conditions. The volume of pothole elimination per day reaches over 2 thousand sq.m - this indicator is also influenced by the weather," the enterprise explained.

Since the beginning of the year, potholes on 79 thousand sq.m of road surfaces have been eliminated in the Vitebsk region. During the same period in 2022, slightly more than 73 thousand sq.m were eliminated, and in 2021 - 38.4 thousand sq.m. The largest volume this year was handled by DEU-32 Polotsk - 13.3 thousand sq.m - and DEU-37 Lepel, where 12.5 thousand sq.m were repaired. DEU-34 Braslav and DEU-31 Vitebsk also performed work on more than 8 thousand sq.m. Pothole repair on 6.7 thousand sq.m was carried out by DEU-36 Vitebsk, and workers of DEU-7 in Yurtsevo - on 6.6 thousand sq.m.

"Almost half of the total pothole volume across our enterprise is on roads R46 and R132, serviced by DEU-32 Polotsk, covering the Rossonsky and Polotsky districts," the enterprise added. "The problematic issue is the insufficient funding for road maintenance work. For the current year, the volume of funds allocated for the maintenance of highways by RUP "Vitebskavtodor" amounts to 57% of the normative need. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has allocated almost Br40 million for these purposes, while Br69.4 million is required."

"BELTA"

Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by