Roads across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are set to benefit from a major programme of investment and improvement.
BCP Council says £1.2 million of funding will help it proactively prevent potholes across key routes with a multi-million pound pot set aside for additional road resurfacing.
BCP Council is responsible for maintaining 780 miles of roads and pavements with proactive and reactive maintenance programmes ensuring priority problems are identified and fixed.
More than £10 million of government funding has been allocated to support this work over the next 12 months – an extra £2 million compared to last year.
The funding is broken down into two areas – a portion for maintenance projects and a second allocation for ‘Integrated Transport Block’ schemes.
With nearly £7.5 million of maintenance funding secured for the next financial year, the council says its team will be able to take on additional work aimed at preventing potholes and improving road surfaces.
Funding from the highway maintenance allocation will also be used to improve drainage across the highways network as well as undertake bridge maintenance and street lighting maintenance
The remaining £3.1 million of the budget is allocated to the Integrated Transport Block – funding used to plan strategic network improvements, deliver active travel, accessibility, public transport, road safety, network management and local traffic scheme improvements.
Cllr Andy Hadley, Portfolio Holder with responsibility for highways maintenance and sustainable transport at BCP Council, said: “We know that potholes are a source of real frustration for motorists across our three towns; this increased funding ensures we can take more preventative action that will protect our roads.
“This allocation, from central government, will allow our maintenance team to respond to priority problem areas – improving the quality of our roads and, in doing so, the safety of them for everyone.”