Up to 40 crews perform pothole repairs on republican roads in the Vitebsk region daily.

РУП "Vitebskavtodor" services almost 3 thousand km of republican highways in the northern region. Currently, specialists identify pothole elimination as the number one priority, as the number of potholes on the road network has increased after winter. Among the reasons for this are unfavorable weather conditions, as well as repeated exceeding of the maintenance intervals for road surfaces and pavements, as noted by "Vitebskavtodor". The maximum volume of potholes is observed on transport arteries with high traffic intensity: M1, M3, M8, R49, R46, R20.

"Pothole repair work is carried out on the entire serviced network of highways and does not stop for a single day, including weekends. All available human resources and specialized equipment are involved. Daily work of up to 40 crews is organized, depending on weather conditions. The volume of pothole elimination per day reaches over 2 thousand sq.m – this indicator is also influenced by the weather," the enterprise explained.

Since the beginning of the year, potholes on 79 thousand sq.m of road surfaces have been eliminated in the Vitebsk region. During the same period in 2022, slightly more than 73 thousand sq.m were eliminated, and in 2021 – 38.4 thousand sq.m. The largest volume this year was completed by DEU-32 Polotsk – 13.3 thousand sq.m – and DEU-37 Lepel, where 12.5 thousand sq.m were repaired. Also, DEU-34 Braslav and DEU-31 Vitebsk performed work on over 8 thousand sq.m. Pothole repair on 6.7 thousand sq.m was carried out by DEU-36 Vitebsk, and workers of DEU-7 in Yurtsievo – on 6.6 thousand sq.m.

"Almost half of the total pothole volume for our enterprise is on roads R46 and R132, serviced by DEU-32 Polotsk – Rossonsky and Polotsky districts," the enterprise added. "A problematic issue is the insufficient funding for road maintenance. For the current year, the volume of funds for the maintenance of highways by RUP "Vitebskavtodor" is 57% of the normative need. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has allocated almost Br40 million for these purposes, while Br69.4 million is needed."

"BELTA"