Good vibrations: JCB unveils a machine that can fix a pothole in under eight minutes

Written By Lawrence Allan

Quicker and cheaper than traditional methods
Can be leased by local authorities
Initial testing carried out in Stoke-on-Trent

JCB is promising to make it cheaper, quicker and easier for council to fix potholes with a new multi-role pothole-busting machine that can repair a pothole in just eight minutes.

The JCB PotholePro can fill a pothole four times quicker than traditional roadmending methods and at half the cost.

The machine’s development has been personally led by JCB Chairman Lord Bamford and tests with local authorities and contractors have found that the PotholePro can fix up to 700 potholes per month. With a 25mph travel speed, the machine can relocate between sites without additional transport costs, too.

The PotholePro has been put through its paces on roads in Stoke-on-Trent, with the city council working with JCB over the past 12 months to develop the pothole killing machine.

In initial testing, the PotholePro completed 51 road repair jobs in 20 days, which would have taken a team of up to six operatives 63 days to complete normally.

Pothole repair in four steps

JBC Pothole repair — 1. The planer's teeth cut away at the broken road surface to make it level for the repair

Councillor Daniel Jellyman, Stoke-on-Trent City Council cabinet member for infrastructure, regeneration and heritage, said he had seen a 700% increase in productivity.

“In a time when every penny and pound counts for local authorities, we’re delighted to be at the forefront of developing and trialling new technologies and ways of working, especially ones which could save residents money,” said Jellyman.

The PotholePro allows a contractor or local authority to cut the defect, crop the edges and clean the hole with one machine – mechanising jobs traditionally done by pothole gangs and delivering up to a 50% cut in daily costs.

JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: “Potholes really are the scourge of our nation. Our country is quite rightly fixated on this dreadful problem and as a British manufacturer I am fixated on finding a solution. We simply cannot allow our road network to continue to be blighted by potholes.

“JCB’s solution is simple and cost-effective and fixes potholes permanently, first time. Once the machine has done its job all the contractor then needs to do is just add tar.”

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