A MASSIVE operation to repair and dress Suffolk’s roads is now under way.

Road bosses, who have been forced to fire-fight large numbers of potholes with temporary repairs following damage caused by rain, snow and ice, said maintenance has now begun.

They hope surface dressing can start by the middle of the month, if the weather holds.

Over the next year, about £8million of machine surfacing projects – where a new layer of asphalt is added to roads – will take place at around 90 sites, with the majority being carried out in the summer months.

So far 210 sites have been flagged up for a £5.5million dressing project, which involves the road being sprayed with tar followed by aggregate chippings being applied. A further eight sites will have a thin layer of asphalt applied to them at a cost of £300,000.

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said that work funded by an additional £3m of Government money is still to be programmed. The cash is expected to be spent on machine surfacing, strengthening the edges of dual carriageways damaged by lorries and patching potholes.

Guy McGregor, Suffolk County Council cabinet member for roads and transport, previously said that crumbling concrete roads – many of which are on estates in Ipswich – would also be addressed.

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said: “We’ve already started our comprehensive annual road surfacing and maintenance programme and, weather permitting, it’s going to intensify in the next month or so.

“The county council recognises the importance of our roads to the local economy and people’s day-to-day lives. That’s why we invest significant resources each year to repair and maintain them.”

He added: “We approach roads maintenance in a pragmatic way, assessing their state, prioritising areas in need of work and undertaking the most appropriate treatments. This means we’re able to make best use of public money to keep our roads network functioning.”

The EADT reported last month that road engineers had dealt with 2,000 potholes in a three-week spell.