A well-maintained road surface can last for 20 years or more.
But road surfaces are worn away by vehicle traffic, heavy rain and freeze-thaw cycles. And eventually they’ll develop cracks, holes and structural weaknesses that need to be fixed.
When that time comes, you have two main choices: road repairs or full resurfacing.
In the short term, repairs are the most cost-effective road maintenance option. But higher road resurfacing costs can be worth it to significantly extend the lifespan of a highly damaged road.
Understanding the costs and benefits of repairs vs resurfacing is essential for cost management and maintaining the integrity of your road infrastructure.
Road repairs involve making small-scale fixes to minor holes and cracks.
There are a few different types of road repairs. And which type you need depends on the extent of the damage.
Most road damage starts as simple cracks, which are very easy to fix.
After dirt, dust and other debris is cleared out, we pour hot bitumen or a rubberised sealant into the crack.
This closes it up and restores structural integrity.
Early road surface sealing keeps cracks from getting bigger and becoming harder to fix.
When a crack isn’t caught in time, or a particular part of the road experiences heavy wear, the surface material can start to come loose.
Our road surface contractors remove the affected section, spray the exposed surface with a bonding agent and fill in the hole with hot asphalt.
This is then compacted to match the surrounding road surface.
Road patching is a quick, cheap and durable way to deal with localised damage before it gets worse.
If small holes and cracks aren’t filled in quickly, they can grow into potholes.
A pothole is a depression or hollow in the road surface where material has fallen away.
Similar to road patching, pothole repairs involve cutting a clean rectangular shape around the damage to remove loose and broken material.
The exposed surface is sprayed with a sticky bitumen emulsion before hot asphalt is poured in and tightly compacted.
After it cools, the road is ready to reopen.
Also known as micro surfacing, micro asphalt is essentially a halfway point between road repairs and road resurfacing.
The entire road receives shallow resurfacing to address non-structural cracks, potholes, uneven surfaces and other deformations. But there’s no need to dig up the existing surface to expose the base layer.
Micro asphalt resurfacing is suitable for roads that are still structurally sound but show more widespread cracking or fretting.
This restores the surface to good condition and protects against future wear.
We pour a 6-12mm layer of cold-mix asphalt consisting of bitumen emulsion and fine aggregate stones across the entire road surface.
The material takes just 30 minutes to set and at most two hours to cure. So the road can be reopened again very quickly, causing minimal disruption.
Unlike other asphalt repairs, surface dressing is a preventative treatment that seals a road surface before damage occurs.
The process involves spreading a layer of hot bitumen across a clean road. Then, stone chippings are spread and pressed into place with a heavy roller to improve grip.
Surface dressing protects the road against heavy wear and water ingress, extending its lifespan by around 7-10 years.
Asphalt road resurfacing involves removing and replacing the top layers of a road.
It’s generally performed on a large area – often the entire carriageway – to restore smoothness, improve safety and extend the life of your road.
We start by removing around 40-100mm of the existing road surface using a road planer or milling machine.
This exposes the road base, which allows us to clean it and address any structural issues.
Once the road base is prepared, our team sprays a bitumen-based adhesive to the surface followed by a new layer of hot asphalt.
We shape this into a suitable camber for drainage and driving comfort before compacting the new asphalt with a heavy roller.
This usually takes 48-72 hours to fully cool and set. When it does, we reopen the road to traffic.
Short stretches of road can be resurfaced in one sitting. But longer roads are typically resurfaced in sections.
Well-laid asphalt roads that receive proper maintenance can last 15-20 years before they need additional treatments.
It’s tough to put a general price on road repairs.
After all, sealing a small crack with filler is much cheaper and quicker than filling a pothole.
But even widespread micro asphalt treatment is cheaper than full road surface replacement, which generally costs around £50-£100 per m2.
That said, investing in road resurfacing significantly extends the lifespan of a road surface.
So the long-term cost of frequent road repairs can actually be higher than the one-off costs of resurfacing.
There are a few factors that impact the cost of road repairs vs resurfacing. Understanding these will help you find a budget-friendly option that meets your needs.
The larger the road surface area, the higher the overall cost. But the lower the cost per m2.
For example, a small pothole repair might cost £70 for 0.2m2. That’s a relative cost of £350/m2.
On the other hand, resurfacing a 1 km stretch of road that’s 4m wide could cost £240,000. But it comes out at just £60/m2.
Heavily trafficked roads require stronger materials to keep up with the intense wear.
And work might need to be scheduled for night-time or off-peak hours to reduce disruptions.
While a busy A-road might need heavy-duty rapid-set materials and precise scheduling, a low-traffic residential road probably only needs basic asphalt and minimal control.
The hot-mix asphalt used for permanent resurfacing is more expensive than the cold-mix asphalt used for small repairs.
And since it takes longer to set, you might need more extensive traffic control measures like redirections, temporary traffic lights and fencing.
But because it lasts longer, you can delay the cost of additional repairs to save money over time.
Simple surface dressing or crack sealing can be done quickly with minimal preparation.
But resurfacing involves planing off existing layers, treating the base layer and waiting for a new layer of hot asphalt to cool and set.
And if there are any structural failings like subsidence (when the ground beneath the foundation sinks), you might require full excavation and road rebuilding.
Road repairs and resurfacing often cost more in urban areas. That’s because:
Rural roads might be easier to repair. But reaching them and redirecting traffic could take longer, adding to the cost.
Repairs like pothole filling are cheaper upfront. But they often require multiple repairs.
Resurfacing is more expensive. But it provides a predictable lifespan, requires less maintenance and can result in long-term cost savings.
For example, filling a pothole 5 times over 10 years at £70 costs a total of £350.
But resurfacing that area once for £100 as part of a larger road resurfacing project can extend its lifespan by up to 20 years.
That means you don’t need to spend more money on additional repairs.
When it comes down to it, road repairs vs road resurfacing depends on your budget, maintenance and expected wear.
If you have a small flaw on a sealed, well-maintained road that receives minimal traffic, you can get it repaired fairly cheaply.
But if there are multiple points of failure in a heavily trafficked road, the higher cost and downtime of resurfacing is worth it for decades of uninterrupted use.
You avoid the costs and downtime of early resurfacing by applying a surface dressing treatment every 7-10 years.
By fixing small issues as soon as they arise and keeping track of road maintenance history, you can schedule dressing, sealing, repairs and resurfacing when costs are low and benefits are high.
The information in this blog will help guide your infrastructure planning. But the best way to know whether you need road repairs or full resurfacing is with a road condition assessment from Hazell & Jefferies Ltd.
Our experts can examine roads anywhere in the UK and offer trusted advice on your best course of action.
With our help, you can minimise costs and downtimes while maximising the lifespan of your road surfaces.
Local authorities in Oxfordshire, Reading, Berkshire and the wider UK rely on Hazell & Jefferies Ltd for quality road repairs, surface dressing and full resurfacing treatments.
We have over 50 years’ experience working for public, commercial and industrial clients. And we even provide driveway surfacing for homes and businesses.
Our team is available to assess the condition of your road and offer transparent advice on how to extend road surface lifespan without exceeding your budget.
Get in touch today for a free no-obligation consultation or site assessment.
