How we repair potholes and how to report an issue

A pothole can be a small or larger hole in the road or pavement.

It is formed when water gets into a crack in the road surface and freezes and thaws repeatedly. Both the impact of traffic and the repeated freezing and thawing of the water further damages the surface, and over time a hole is formed.

Potholes can appear at any time of year but are more frequent during late winter and early spring. There are more potholes on roads across the country now due in part to spells of extremely wet or cold weather.

Who is responsible for repairing potholes

Streets Ahead is responsible for repairing potholes on all adopted (council-owned) streets in Sheffield, such as the major arterial routes in and out of the city, for example the:

A61
A57
A6109 and
A6102 up to the city boundary

National Highways is responsible for repairing motorways and motorway slip roads.

We do not repair potholes on private roads or in car parks.

Housing associations are responsible for repairing potholes on their own land.

How often we inspect the roads

We inspect the roads monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the road type. For example:

primary or A roads and secondary or B roads are inspected monthly
link roads are inspected quarterly
local roads, for example, side roads are inspected annually

Our highways inspectors will mark any potholes or other defects and report them to the relevant team for repair.

How we prioritise potholes for repair

Potholes fall into two categories:

hazardous potholes – these are potholes which are typically greater than 40mm in depth
lower category defects – these are potholes or defects that require attention, but they do not represent an immediate or imminent hazard

For a pothole posing an immediate safety hazard, we will temporarily fill it with asphalt to make it safe. We aim to do this within 24 hours of receiving a report of a pothole.

If it requires a larger repair, our highways inspectors will mark it and we will return to make a permanent repair, known as an inlay patch, within 28 days. Marking the pothole ensures that when our team arrives to repair it, they know how large the repair needs to be.

Prioritising the most hazardous potholes means that we may leave other less urgent potholes, even if they are close by. In this case, we check if the potholes are on a route that we already have planned for resurfacing. We then look at starting work on those roads earlier than planned and design appropriate diversion routes to ensure minimal disruption to road users.