MORE than 100 miles of roads in Worcestershire wrecked by divots, cracks and holes are getting a £3 million repair job, it has emerged.

Council chiefs are launching a new attempt to restore many routes battered by the winter’s harsh weather by using controversial surface dressing.

The tactic is a quicker alternative to full-scale pothole repairs and is meant to prolong the life of a road for eight to 10 years, depending on the weather.

Workers use stone chippings to seal up a damaged area, allowing traffic to drive straight over it immediately.

County Hall say the project, which launched last week, will carry on until July and cover the whole of Worcestershire.

It includes work across Worcester from tomorrow morning.

Some of the city's roads set for the dressing include Bitten Road, Jasmine Road, Magnolia Close, Larkspur Road, Yarrow Close, Heather Close and Foxglove Road.

Motorists are being warned that on freshly laid surface dressed patches some stone chippings may spray up at first.

There will also be temporary traffic lights in use on routes where the work is taking place.

Jon Fraser, highways manager, said: “We're really pleased to have our surface dressing programme underway.

“After the cold winter we're looking to get roads back to the best condition they can be as soon as possible.

“Inevitably there will be some inconvenience whilst works are underway but this is being kept to an absolute minimum.

“We're grateful for patience from residents and businesses whilst the works are being carried out, and with a little extra caution drivers can be using roads again as soon as the surface dressing has been applied.”

The announcement comes six weeks after your Worcester News was inundated with calls from irate motorists who had hit a large pothole in Church Lane, Norton.

Bruce Steatham, aged 68, of Littleworth, was one of at least four drivers to hit it, leaving him with a £60 repair bill.

He said: “Some of the roads in Worcestershire are awful.

“I remember hitting the one in Norton and my whole car shook. It’s not a nice experience at all.

“I don’t mind a bit of disruption as long as the job is done well, let’s face it something needs to happen because if they leave it until next winter, we’re all stuffed.”

The county council say around 200 potholes are being filled in every day following the winter, and that it has responsibility for 2,500 miles of road in total.

Alternative full-scale road resurfacing can cost three times as much.

Because surface dressing cannot be done in wet weather, the authority decided to wait until now to launch the project.

This time last year the authority did a similar tactic - spending £3.8 million on a surface dressing scheme across 350 routes in Worcestershire.

At the time Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member responsible for roads and the environment, admitted it was a controversial method, but said most people backed it.

In February the authority also revealed it was spending an extra £2.5 million on the roads after a residents' survey suggested it should be the biggest priority after social care.

Of that cash, £500,000 will go on the infrastruture, while the remaining £2 million is for routes flagged up as concerns by councillors or the public.

The cash is on top of the £3.2 million worth of funding from central Government towards highways over the next two years.

During the survey, which took place last year, satisfaction with the county's roads was as low as 42 per cent, despite the multi-millions spent on it in recent years.

*What do you think? Is surface dressing the way forward, or do you think there are alternative ways to repair the network?