10 WORK teams have been assigned to tackle the Island's problem pot holes in an effort to get the roads back to a reasonable condition.
Last week the Department of Infrastructure asked the public to help identify problem areas, caused by the recent cold spell, and had over 130 reports.
Four teams of parish wardens will be dispatched to concentrate on making priority defects safe. Two patching crews will be concentrating on the main arterial and bus routes.
There will be three Jetpatcher machines, two which have been hired from the UK, concentrating on the rural roads and a reactive crew who will cover the small areas which require permanent reinstatement where the Jetpatcher's have failed.
All of these resources will be deployed on a six day week.
Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne 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 will be devoted to ensuring that drainage systems are fully functioning to minimise water on the roads which could freeze during future cold spells.
Resources from current work on road lining, grass cutting, weed spraying, hedge cutting and public rights of way maintenance work will be withdrawn in order to carry out this work.
The Department of Infrastructure has said that its primary concern is for the safety of the public and improving the road conditions for as many people as possible.
With this in mind the order of priority will be the following: primary and strategic commuter routes, high speed rural routes, bus routes, and estate roads and low speed roads.
Mr Gawne continued: "Importantly the department would like to remind drivers that they need to take account of the poor and unexpected road conditions when driving. Accidents have already been reported where drivers may not have taken full account of the conditions."
