Introduction
Keeping our roads open
Here you will find information on the work our Highways teams are doing across our road network to provide a road network we can all be proud of and keep West Sussex moving.
Over the past six months our highways team have been working hard, completing surfacing treatments, small to large scale patching and repairs of safety defects such as potholes across the county’s road network. From the start of April up until the end of September, we have completed:
- 18,675 pothole repairs, with over 95% using the ‘sides sawn and sealed’ method
- 9,600 pothole repairs covering approximately 10,500sqm using the Velocity Jet Patchers
- 23,625 sqm worth of patching across 299 jobs
- 116 miles (187Km) of surfacing treatments
- 3,000 sqm of repairs in a trial of mastic asphalt
You can find out more about how we repair potholes here
Our challenge
Unfortunately, roads are not permanent structures and deteriorate over time. The periods of extreme fluctuations in weather across the seasons that have been experienced in recent years, with record levels of rainfall this most recent winter, has only served to accelerate the decline in the condition of our roads.
To get our entire network into perfect condition, we would need £400 million for the surfacing works alone. We’d also need to carry out a large amount of other structural and drainage works, especially on the rural roads which don’t have the same underlying infrastructure as roads in urban situations do.
The annual budget allocation for Highways isn’t only for pothole repairs and surfacing works, it also provides resources for the implementation and maintenance of:
- Footways and cycleways
- Bridges and subways
- Drainage assets such as gullies, ditches and grips
- Streetlights, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings
- Safety fencing, pedestrian barriers and bollards
- Road markings and signage
- Grass verges, trees, hedges and planted areas
Winter Resilience
We have had two consecutive winters with extreme weather, from low temperatures to record rainfall, that has disrupted and damaged our roads. To ensure we don’t see the same impact this year, we are investing a further £1.5million for much-needed resources to continue maintenance work and provide resilience in responding to emergencies.
What you will see out on the network over winter:
- Cyclical gully emptying.
- Jetting priority works including CCTV operations.
- Iron work repairs.
- Proactive gully top and grip cutting works.
- Small capital drainage schemes.
It’s important to note that when we’ve had prolonged periods of heavy rain, the sheer volume of water means that no highway drainage can work effectively, as the outlet for highway water is over capacity and the water in our system simply can’t go anywhere. This results in carriageway flooding and there is little we can do until water levels fall.
How you can help
All road users can help us to keep West Sussex moving by reporting problems to us using the links below. You can also help by:
- Keeping drainage gullies outside of your property clear of leaf debris on the gully tops if it is safe to do so.
- Making sure you adhere to your riparian duties by keeping any watercourse that runs through or immediately adjacent to your property free flowing. Read more about riparian responsibilities here
Useful links:
How to report an emergency with a road or pavement
Report flooding, blocked drains or gullies
Report any other issue eg damaged streetlights or parking issue
What we're investing
At the start of the year, we committed to actively tackling the problem of our deteriorating roads by investing an additional £13 million into both reactive and proactive measures to repair and maintain our carriageways and keep West Sussex moving.
This investment was in addition to our base budget for the year of £42.8 million and the £2.1 million we received from the Department for Transport’s Road Resurfacing Fund.
We have also recently provided a further £1.5 million to carry out maintenance works aimed at improving resilience across our network ahead of the cold and wet winter months.
A further £10million from council funds has been committed for next year (2025/26) to continue the work needed to provide a resilient highways network for the county.
Highways infrastructure
The Highway and Transport Delivery Programme identifies highways infrastructure maintenance and transport improvement schemes.
It is funded from Highway Maintenance and Transport Improvement Grants, supported by other external contributions such as development section 106 funding (developer contributions) and West Sussex County Council's corporate capital funding.
The programme maintains our roads, footways and highway infrastructure elements, such as bridges and traffic signals, with this year’s programme being the largest we’re aiming to deliver in recent years, with a budget of £45million.
Full details of major infrastructure projects
How we spend the funding provided by Government for highways maintenance in West Sussex
Contact Us
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