EXTREME temperature changes have added to the headaches facing Ayrshire drivers this winter, roads bosses have warned.

And the head of roads at the Ayrshire Roads Alliance (ARA) has admitted that the conditions experienced over the past month have put additional pressure on the organisation’s already-stretched budget.

ARA, which maintains non-trunk roads in East and South Ayrshire, announced in November that it was halting its programme of resurfacing work after spiralling costs saw the organisation spend its entire 2022-23 budget of £8.7 million in little more than half the year.

Drivers across Ayrshire have been faced with large potholes during their journeys, often in areas that aren’t the usual pothole hotspots, as a result of the big freeze and rapid thaw that hit the area last month – with the temperature rising from a low of -10C to a maximum of 14C in the space of just 24 hours.

Announcing the halt to the organisations resurfacing programme in November, Kevin Braidwood, ARA’s head of roads, insisted roads would be repaired where and when required.

But the additional burden of the weather damage means that more of a financial burden will be placed on ARA.

Mr Braidwood said: “Due to extremely low temperatures leading up to the holiday and subsequent heavy rain that followed, the network has experienced some defects as a result of salt treatment, thawing and excessive rain leading to surface water damage of weak spots and traffic loading.

“All our roads are inspected on a risk based approach as per the National Code of Practice ‘Well Managed Highways Infrastructure’ and we are aware of the network condition.

“This will impact on our budget for repairs along with current pressures, i.e cost of oil based products and fuel.”

The planned roads programme takes into account the ‘natural’ deterioration of the road surface.

As the maintenance programme has been curtailed, the surfaces inevitably deteriorate further.

One result of this is that water is able to penetrate further into the road surface – something that proves an especially big problem when temperatures change rapidly and significantly as they did last month.

The water under the road surface expands when it freezes and contracts when it thaws – which begins to break up the binding material in the roads and, as the upper layers of the road are more susceptible, the road begins to break up.

The pothole itself can then lead to an acceleration of water penetrating into the lower material on the surface. Another freeze and thaw cycle then continues the deterioration.