Employing the Jetpatcher Against Potholes

Given the excessively cold winter we just experienced, the road infrastructure in many countries has been severely affected. Large amounts of precipitations, and of snow melting, have caused more than 1.6 million potholes to appear on streets in the United Kingdom alone. Authorities are currently facing the possibility of having to spend a huge sum of money on repairing the streets, but it could be that their costs could be significantly lowered by using the Jetpatcher, the BBC News reports.

The instrument is basically a truck that is capable of patching potholes with great proficiency. Unlike regular repair crews, which require several individuals to patch a single hole in the ground, the Jetpatcher only needs two operators, as other tasks are performed automatically. Its operating principle is very simple, and yet highly effective. The first step in the process is blowing all the debris out of a pothole, so as to clean the workspace. It then proceeds to lay a thin layer of asphalt at the bottom of the hole, so as to seal it. On top of that, it pours a mixture of minerals and asphalt, which fill the empty space. Another layer of aggregates is placed atop the repaired potholes, so as to prevent asphalt sticking to car wheels.

While the truck itself, sans materials, costs about £140,000 ($216,444), patching a pothole costs an average of £60 ($92.7), and takes about five minutes. Additionally, because only two men are required to operate the machine, authorities save a lot on having to pay several times the number of people. The Hampshire County Council, for example, has been using a leased Jetpatcher since early February. Officials here say that they were able to coordinate the repairs of hundreds of potholes each week since, which is a rate much higher than possible with conventional repair crews. “A high majority of Scottish councils have bought or leased one. We've had a lot of enquiries in England. And a lot of councils in Wales are already using Jetpatchers,” says a Jetpatcher UK spokesperson.

This option may prove to be very useful in the long run, some say. Government analysts say that patching the potholes caused by this winter's cold spells will produce a bill of about £100 million, or $154.5 million. The only thing hindering the operations of the Jetpatcher fleet is, naturally, weather. This is not a limitation of the machine itself, but of the materials it works with. In order to catch on properly, asphalt needs to be set on the ground at a very narrow range of temperature and humidity. Exceeding these thresholds causes a vicious circle that eventually sees the formation of new potholes.