MILLIONS of pounds worth of work to repair Bolton’s crumbling road network will start tomorrow.

Last month, Bolton Council’s Executive agreed to spend an extra £3 million to tackle the significant increase in the number of potholes and general deterioration caused by the worst winter weather for decades.

Now, town hall chiefs have agreed how to spend the cash and work on the first two major schemes will start next week.

A section of Wigan Road, from Hulton Lane to Gordon Avenue, and part of Bradford Street, from Nelson Street to Green Lane, will be completely resurfaced.

Key main routes and key residential roads in locations across the borough will also undergo major resurfacing, financed through £1.8million of the funding total.

Work on Scot Lane, Blackrod, will start on March 8, followed by Minerva Road on March 29 and Highfield Road, Farnworth, on May 3.

As well as the major work, another £1 million will be spent on structural patching to roads around the borough. This involves replacing small areas of the road surface.

And £200,000 will go towards repairing thousands of potholes on other roads across the borough.

Work on all the schemes will be programmed into the maintenance schedule over the next 12 months.

Cllr Ismail Ibrahim, Bolton Council’s Executive member for environmental services, said: “We’ll be using a hard-wearing road surfacing material which should last for many years.

“The roads that we’ve chosen are based on engineering surveys and all of the ones we will resurface are on bus routes, gritting routes or busy local roads.

“Wigan Road is a key route into Bolton and the Minerva Road works will be near the Royal Bolton Hospital.

“The extra money will help improve our roads. We’ll endeavour to carry out works during off-peak hours, but we’d ask everyone to be patient while work takes place.”

Residents and businesses will be notified about the schemes in their local area and if possible motorists are advised to find alternative routes.

andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk