Potholes in the urban area
Removal of winter damage required every spring
Winter damage to the roads in Chemnitz's road network is currently being repaired again. The City of Chemnitz has budgeted around 500,000 euros per year for this from the road maintenance budget, which is available for repair work on roads, cycle paths and footpaths in the 2019/2020 biennial budget totalling almost 6 million euros per year.
Priority is given to repairing damage that poses an acute threat to road safety and damage to the main road network. As a rule, attention is paid to the economic processing of damage in a specific area, as appropriate barriers have to be installed.
The damage is identified and recorded by road inspectors from the Civil Engineering Department. They carry out the same inspection tour every six weeks or so. If damage occurs shortly after such a patrol, the city is also very grateful for information from the public.
The type of pothole patching depends on the temperature and weather. It also depends on when hot mix is produced. Until the end of February, only the more expensive and less durable cold mix could be used as a "first aid measure" to ensure road safety as quickly as possible. The hot mix plants have been active again since the beginning of March.
Four framework contractors and the municipal building yard are currently working on repairing the damage, with a total of three municipal maintenance site managers coordinating the measures.
How many potholes can be repaired in one day depends on the size of the damage and which technology is used. In the case of hot mix, each column processes an average of one thermo container of hot mix containing 3 to 5 tonnes per day on Chemnitz's roads. In total, between 18 and 30 tonnes of hot mix per day. To estimate this quantity, here is a comparison: one tonne of hot mix fills one square metre with a depth of 40 cm.
Some potholes have to be patched several times because the technology meant that the joints could not be sealed with sealing tape or cold mix had to be used. As a result, water can penetrate the damaged area and freeze again, causing the damaged area to crack or break open when it thaws. Although this is unattractive, it does not constitute a defect in terms of the warranty.
As a wide range of major road repairs and investment road construction measures are planned throughout the city, additional coordination will take place to determine whether and when normal pothole patching will be carried out.
A total of around €23 million has been budgeted for road construction and maintenance measures in 2019.