10 WORK teams were assigned to tackle the Island's roads in January following a spell of bad weather.

The Department of Infrastructure asked the public to help identify problem areas, caused by freezing conditions, and had over 130 reports.

Four teams of parish wardens were dispatched to concentrate on making priority defects safe and two patching crews concentrated on the main arterial and bus routes.

Three Jetpatcher machines, two which were hired from the UK, concentrated on the rural roads and a reactive crew covered the small areas which required permanent reinstatement where the Jetpatcher's had failed.

All of these resources were deployed on a six day week.

The then Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK said: "The public's response so far has been fantastic and, although it will take many months to get the roads back into a reasonable condition, we believe that the majority of the public appreciate the scale of what has to be achieved."

In addition to patching work two ditching crews and two jetting crews were devoted to ensuring that drainage systems were fully functioning to minimise water on the roads which could freeze during future cold spells.

Resources from work on road lining, grass cutting, weed spraying, hedge cutting and public rights of way maintenance work were withdrawn in order to carry out this work.

The Department of Infrastructure said its primary concern was for the safety of the public and improving the road conditions for as many people as possible.

Update: It has been revealed that around £100m will be needed to bring the whole road network in the Isle of Man up to a good standard. For more on this click here.

This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011.