Peterborough City Council is working with contractors to identify roads and paths cracked by this year’s drought after "starting" to notice the impact.

The council have said they’re “starting to see the impact” on road, cycleway and path surfaces that the period of prolonged drought has had on Peterborough’s roads this year. 

The heat during the drought took moisture out of the soil under the roads, the surfaces then shrunk and were made uneven which eventually caused cracks to appear.  

According to the council this has been especially bad on the rural roads, as many are built on peat and clay subsoils, as well as several offroad cycleways and footways. 

To help identify which surfaces need repairing, Peterborough City Council are working with Milestone. 

The council has warned some roads may close until work can be completed while others may be left damaged for some time due to the volume of work needing to be done. 

They’ve continued to say that preventing drought on the city’s roads, paths and cycle ways is not possible so instead the most appropriate repair methods are used for the issue.  

One such method of fixing rural roads is called insitu-recycling, this involves grinding the road, mixing it with dry cement, levelling it and adding a new surface course over the top which results in a flatter road. 

Marco Cereste, cabinet member for planning, housing and transport, said: “Drought is becoming more of an issue for our city’s roads than ever before.  

“The volume of highway affected seems to be greater than recent years and in some cases the damage is greater. 

“We are working as quick as we can to repair the damaged roads, but due to the volume of highway affected and budget availability we may not be able to carry out full repairs immediately and some repairs may have to wait until the next financial year.  

“There may be temporary repairs, warning signs, cyclist dismount signs and temporary lower speed limits whilst the repairs are being done.  

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused by these repairs.” 

If anyone sees a cracked road near them, please report it to the council at: report.peterborough.gov.uk