Why pothole repair costs vary
- robball6
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Car maker Citroën has weighed into the pothole debate with statistics gained from Freedom of Information requests to councils about the costs of pothole repairs. It found that the cost for a single pothole repair varied from £4.13 from Cardiff Council to £656 for Shetlands Islands Council.
Citroën’s conclusion is that some councils are wasting money and that they should all use a standardised method to repair potholes. If everyone paid the cost that Cardiff do, 33 million extra potholes could be repaired, it claims.
A more reasonable conclusion might be that the councils are calculating their costs in different ways. The 2025 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report found that the average cost of a planned pothole repair in England is £57.87.
Although the disparity in costs suggested by these statistics is extreme, it is true that the cost of fixing potholes does vary. Costs for labour, materials, equipment, logistics and traffic management will differ from place to place. And every local council has a different road network to manage, with different types and ages of road.
However, there are ways to reduce the cost of pothole repairs. The number of potholes that can be repaired in a working day affects the cost. And the longevity of a repair is also crucial; if a repair does not last, the council will have to bear the cost all over again…and again.
Thermal Road Repairs’ system has been designed to be both swift and long-lasting and it removes the need for vehicle movements to take away material and to bring in new material. Our pulse heaters raise the temperature of the failed material in and around the pothole, controlling the temperature so the asphalt is not overheated and damaged, so that only a small amount of new asphalt has to be added.
Vitally, repairs carried out using our system are joint-free. Rather than cut out around a pothole and treating the edges so that the new material sticks, our repairs have no edges – and hence no weak point which can widen into a crack and then a pothole over time. The heated old asphalt and the new asphalt are mixed together and then compacted so that the repaired area will last as long as the surrounding asphalt.
As well as taking around 10 minutes per repair – compared to around 30 minutes for a traditional one - all the equipment and fresh, hot asphalt for pothole repairs are carried in one vehicle when using Thermal Road Repairs’ methodology. That means less disruption to surrounding road users. And because the method does not require any noisy equipment or create dust it is friendlier for workers, residents and members of the public, and can even be carried out at night.
There are carbon benefits too due to the efficiency of our system and the fact that there is no waste. Compared to a traditional pothole repair method, Thermal Road Repairs’ system emits 85% less carbon. If you take into account the fact that our repairs last longer than traditional ones, that saving increases over the life of the road.
So, in conclusion, all pothole repairs are not equal – in cost, carbon or longevity.
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Thermal Road Repairs: Decarbonising the asphalt repair industry
High output. Low emission. Zero waste. Permanent solution.
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