Coventry City Council has invested in a JCB PotholePro following a trial last summer when it repaired more than 100 sqm of road in just two hours – an area the council says would normally take four days to fix using traditional methods.
First job for the new machine was to repair a stretch of road 40 metres long by one metre wide, in The Hiron, Cheylesmore, Coventry. It took one hour, with a permanent fix, compared to a whole day using established techniques.
The Pothole Pro was launched in January 2021 as an adapted Hydradig wheeled excavator, with tools for cutting and cleaning around potholes. It includes a hydraulic cropping tool, which the previous JCB Pothole Master, a modified 3CX backhoe loader, does not.
Much of 2021 was spent demonstrating the machine to cash-strapped councils.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council was the first local authority to finally buy one in the autumn [see previous report here] and has since repaired 10,000 sqm of carriageway with this one machine in just four months. Using traditional methods, this would have taken nearly three years.
Coventry City councillor Richard Brown, cabinet member for finance, said: “This is a solid investment in an impressive machine. It is a game changer and is a great example of how we are using innovation in the way we provide services.”
Councillor Patricia Hetherton, Cabinet Member for City Services at Coventry City Council, added: “Innovations like this are really important. We’ve almost 900 kilometres of road to look after, so anything that can speed up the process of repair and maintenance and save money is a win-win. The highways team are really pleased about the way it is working.”
Nick Beardmore, one of the council’s PotholePro operators, added: “It’s a powerful machine and really does make a massive difference.”
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