A £2 MILLION programme to prolong the life of more than 100 miles of Dorset's rural roads has been completed.

A team of 20 workers from Dorset Highways with a fleet of specialist vehicles carried out the surface dressing programme this year.

The workers visited 80 sites across the county between April and September to seal 107 miles of carriageway from water and restore skid resistance.

Around 12,000 tonnes of chippings were laid by the purpose-built Phoenix spreaders and 1,300 tonnes of bitumen emulsion was spread by the spray tanker to improve the condition of Dorset County Council’s C and D class roads.

The successful season of surface dressing also included treating 18 miles of the main road network.

Councillor Peter Finney, cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and highways, said: “Although this £2 million programme of work has finished, we are still carrying out resurfacing, patching and other structural maintenance as part of our overall £15 million investment in Dorset’s infrastructure.

“I know our repair work causes disruption – particularly with closing narrow roads for treatment – and I’d like to thank drivers for their patience.”

Surface dressing is a treatment where hot bitumen is sprayed by a tanker onto the road, followed immediately by a spread of 10mm chippings and then topped up by a spread of 6mm chippings, to fill any gaps. A roller then travels across the surface to compact the material down.

For more information, visit dorsetforyou.com/surface-dressing