Road Surface Dressing
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
In the summertime, when the roads of Britain are slowly melting in the heat of the blazing sun 1, councils the length and breadth of the British isles dispatch squads of men to scatter loose chippings over the highways and byways for which they are responsible.
Why do they do this?
What it is
First, the road surface is coated with molten bitumen. Then, a layer of granite chippings is spread over the top. Then, the surface is left for a while to bed down with the assistance (albeit unwittingly) of passing motorists. Finally the remaining granite chippings are supposed to be swept up (although in practice they often aren't).
The official position
Surface dressing notionally increases the life of the road. The bitumen layer restores the waterproof surface of the road and prevents water from seeping into the base layers, where it might freeze and swell, causing potholes. Second, the chippings are supposed to increase surface friction. And finally the whole process is meant to fill any minor cracks and imperfections, preventing costly surface failures.
What really happens
What actually happens is that councils don't do enough road maintenance. They often wait until the road surface has already started to break up, especially at the edges, and then try to make up by surface dressing. By this time it's too late, and all they are doing is hiding the potholes.
A road user's perspective
Loose chippings flay the paint off cars, and damage their protective underbody sealing. They are flung up and chip windscreens, and they get stuck in tyre treads.
Bicycles and motorcycles become almost unridable on loose chippings. As an added bonus, when the potholes (disguised under a layer of stones) bend your wheels and cause you to fall off, the stones which are stuck in the bitumen take off large areas of skin - a phenomenon known as "gravel rash."
And finally, the process of laying the chippings always seems to involve closing roads just when they are liekly to be used - for example, they always seem to do coast roads on bank holiday weekends. Well, not actually on the bank holiday - they start, then park all the equipment and cone off large stretches of road and go away for a while.
1i.e. between 2pm and 2.15pm on 18 July - the rest of the summer being given over to alternating downpours and even bigger downpours
