Login / Register

Potholes

Our Highways team inspect all roads and footpaths for damage on a regular basis. This means we are out and about around the borough monitoring the state of the roads on a regular basis, and we have plans in place to address road problems throughout the year.

We take a risk-based approach to decide whether to take action to repair a pothole, and what action to take.

The level of risk from a pothole depends on:

  • its depth
  • its surface area
  • safety of road users
  • location and usage of the road

How and when to report a pothole 

Potholes on major trunk roads 

The A421 is managed by National Highways. Please report potholes on these roads to National Highways by calling 0300 123 5000 or by email info@nationalhighways.co.uk

Dangerous potholes 

If you believe the pothole to be an immediate and critical risk, please report it to us immediately by calling our Highways team. Only genuinely dangerous potholes should be reported in this way. This is to help us prioritise the safety of our roads.

Find out how to report potholes that aren’t immediately dangerous below.

To report other potholes 

The quickest and easiest way to report a pothole that is not immediately dangerous / located on the A421 (see above) is to use the online form below.

When completing the online form, please give as much detail as possible about the location and size of the pothole:

  • Locate the pothole on the map carefully, try to get it as close to the pothole’s precise location as possible.
  • Describe the location in as much detail as possible, for example, tell us which landmark or shop it is close to.
  • If safe to do so, use ‘what three words’ to describe the location.

The more detail we have about the location, the quicker we can start our investigation.

Report a pothole

What happens next? 

Once we have received your report we will:

  • Inspect the road within 7 days. This allows us to determine what action we will take, taking account of the pothole's size, depth, type, position and the volume of traffic on the road. 
  • If the pothole is dangerous, we will repair it within 24 hours of the inspection. Wherever possible this will be a permanent repair, but it may be a temporary repair which will usually be replaced by a permanent one within 8 weeks, or 12 weeks if a road closure is required.
  • If the pothole is identified as needing repair but does not pose an immediate safety concern, we will monitor it / add it to our programme of work. This means we repair our roads in the most efficient, ‘value for money’ way by undertaking related work at the same time.
  • If, following our inspection, we decide the pothole does not need repair, we will monitor it over time as part of our routine inspection programme.

Pothole FAQs

How long will it take you to repair a pothole I've reported?

Once we receive your report, we will inspect the road within 7 days. This allows us to determine what action we will take, taking account of the pothole’s size, depth, type, position and the volume of traffic on the road.

If the pothole is dangerous, we will repair it within 24 hours of the inspection. Wherever possible this will be a permanent repair, but it may be a temporary repair which will usually be replaced by a permanent one within 8 weeks, or 12 weeks if a road closure is required.

If our inspection identifies that the pothole needs repair but does not pose an immediate safety concern, we will monitor it / add it to our programme of work.

If, following our inspection, we decide the pothole does not need repair, we will monitor it over time as part of our routine inspection programme.

Why haven't you repaired a pothole I've reported?

All pothole reports are inspected and assessed using our risk matrix. Not all potholes will meet our intervention levels but they will be monitored through our routine inspection programme.

What is a pothole and how do they form?

A pothole is a large, deep hole in the road. They are formed when roads freeze and thaw repeatedly. The changes in temperature causes damage to the surface. Layers of the road become unstuck or the surface breaks. As traffic travels over these weakened areas, holes appear.

Potholes can appear at any time of year but are more frequent during late winter and early spring.

How often do you carry out inspections?

We inspect every adopted road in Bedford Borough at least once a year. For the busiest roads, inspections are carried out monthly, for other roads, it’s every 6 months or annually, depending on the use of the road.

How do you repair potholes?

Sometimes for the safety of road users, temporary repairs are made until a permanent repair can be carried out. This might be because the repair location requires complex traffic management or because of adverse weather conditions.

For temporary pothole repairs we use a specialist cold lay material which is placed in the hole and compacted.

We also repair potholes using a thermal road repair system.  The thermal road repair system was created to completely remove any weak points. It involves heating up the existing road material in and around the area of the pothole in a controlled way until it is workable. We then add a small amount of new, hot material, mixing the two and finally compacting to create a seamless repair, with new and old material becoming one due to the heating and compaction processes.

We use a jet patching unit to repair potholes in rural areas. Jet patching is a 4 stage pothole repair process:

  1. Loose material and detritus is blown out of the pothole using high pressure air.
  2. A bituminous emulsion is sprayed into the pothole to act as a glue.
  3. Small chippings are blown into the pothole at the same time as more bituminous emulsion, which combine and fill the pothole.
  4. The material is compacted with a mechanical compactor and the road is immediately opened up to traffic.

For larger potholes we saw cut out a section of the road around the hole, clear out old material and fill it with new hot material.

If a road has lots of potholes it may require more work like patching or resurfacing.