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Highway maintenance

Highways Maintenance are responsible for the resurfacing and repairing of carriageways and footways, and maintenance and/or replacement of street nameplates. 

National Highways is responsible for the A1 and the A47 east of Wansford and majority of the A47 through the greater Peterborough area. We are the Local Highway Authority responsible for the maintenance of the A47 west of Wansford, and all other roads. This section tells you anything you need to know about Peterborough's roads, their maintenance and traffic.

For list of streets and information on nameplates, please visit our street name and numbering page.

Roadworks

Roadwork details are available online, most of the information is supplied by external companies so we cannot guarantee its accuracy. Some roadworks may not be displayed.

Road safety

We have a target to reduce the number casualties on Peterborough roads. Road safety training, education and useful information for road users is available from the Safer Peterborough Partnership.

Traffic regulations orders

Traffic regulation orders (TRO's) are a major form of traffic management. Highway authorities, like Peterborough City Council, can make these orders to control the movement and waiting of vehicles.

Traffic regulation orders have to go through a statutory consultation process to allow those affected to comment before it can take legal effect.

You can view any TRO's that are currently being consulted on in the consultations section. 

Examples of traffic regulation orders are:

  • parking or loading restrictions including loading bays, disabled bays, resident permit parking, limited waiting and bus stop clearways
  • charges for car parks or Pay & Display bays
  • double/single yellow lines
  • one way streets
  • no entry
  • speed limits
  • prohibitions of types of vehicles (for example by weight or width, bus lanes, cycle lanes)
  • prohibited manoeuvres (such as 'No Right Turn').

Potholes

Safety is always our priority. We carry out regular inspections of the roads but also rely on the public reporting potholes to us. 

You can report a pothole online.

Potholes are assessed to decide which ones need to be treated as a priority. Highway defects fall into one of the following categories:

  • Category 1 - are emergency defects that are made safe within 2 hours or 24 hours. These repairs may be temporary to make the road safe until permanent repairs can be made later
  • Category 2 - are non-emergency defects that are further classified as high, medium or low and become part of the maintenance programme with repairs planned within 7days, 28 days or more depending on their nature.

Surfacing and repairs

We are able to apply to the Department for Transport for additional funding for transport projects. 

The Department for Transport also provides additional funds for emergency road repairs.

Different types of road maintenance

  • routine maintenance - generally minor highway maintenance defects
  • planned maintenance - large schemes or programmes of works which are planned in advance
  • reactive or emergency maintenance - emergency and urgent defects

Access protection markings

Access protection markings are white line roadside markings that are used to show where there is access required to a property. Although parking on them is not an offence in itself, most drivers respect the markings so access to property is not obstructed.

As the markings only cover the extent of the dropped kerbs there are no additional parking problems for neighbours.

How to apply for access protection markings

Access protection markings are used in front of a dropped kerb. You can apply for an access protection marking by contacting customer services, a request can also come from a highways inspector.

When a request is made, we will check for any other parking restrictions that are already in place on the highway. If there is already a yellow line restriction the access protection marking request will be refused.

The fee for an access protection marking is £115, payment is required before the work can begin. The whole process takes between 4 and 6 weeks to complete, weather permitting.

Highway bridges

We are responsible for maintaining over 400 bridge structures within the Peterborough Area. These include bridges, footbridges and subways. 

There are also other bridge owners/authorities, the largest being:

Highway drainage

We are responsible for maintaining the gullies on the public roads and footways. When it rains the surface water that collects on roads and footpaths can cause difficulties for highway users. Drains are cleaned on a regular basis to ensure that water is removed as quickly as possible. 

Dropped kerbs

If you would like to apply for a dropped kerb to be installed outside of your property, you can find out how to do this on the creating a dropped kerb page.

Apply for a disabled parking bay

Disabled parking bays can be used only by vehicles displaying a valid blue badge. You can apply for a disabled bay to be installed near your home but you must meet the following criteria in order to be considered.

  • you must have no access to a garage, driveway or other off street parking
  • you must hold a valid disabled driver’s blue badge
  • you must be regularly unable to park conveniently near to your residence, due to heavy on-street parking
  • you must either be the driver of the vehicle or the driver must be a resident at your address
  • a location for the bay must be found that is acceptable to the police
  • your application must receive the support of your ward councillors and your parish council

To apply for a disabled parking bay, email trafficregulation@peterborough.gov.uk

Please note: a disabled parking bay can be used by any blue badge holder and are not reserved for an applicant's sole use.

Published: 16 October 2023