Seven ways to repair peat-soil roads being tried

Seven different types of repair are being tried on a stretch of carriageway in Cambridgeshire to find out which is the best for roads built on peat soil.

The trial is taking place on the B1099 Upwell Road in March after a £1.5m grant from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

Seven 150-metre (490-ft) sections of road have been dug up to test the various methods.

Alex Beckett, a Liberal Democrat county councillor with a responsibility for highways, said: "We're embedding sensors in the roads... and keeping an eye on it and seeing which one works."

Beckett added that about 40% of the county's roads, about 1,118 miles (1,800km) had been built on peat soil.

"Peat soil unfortunately just falls apart so much more quickly," he added.

Beckett said repairing roads on peatland could cost up to five times more than roads on other soils.

He added that work carried on peat-soil hit roads could cost up to "£1m a mile" and only lasted "about half as long as on a normal road".

Cambridgeshire County Council has previously said it had an £800m road maintenance backlog because of "decades of underfunding".

A report to the authority's highways and transport committee also claimed fixing roads on peatland alone would cost £500m.

The council said it had been working with Winvic Construction Ltd to trial the various new maintenance methods.

Andy Harmon, from Winvic, said the seven techniques included one that used "a mixture of deep soil mixing, which essentially strengthens the edges of the road".

Another used a "resin injection system which is installed in a grid pattern and drilled into the carriageway".

He added: "By installing in a controlled fashion, on a set section of road, it just means that you've got a level baseline to monitor."

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