Some Class III roads in the county are only resurfaced every 38 years, and even the more important of the Class II roads get resurfaced only once every 17 years.

In a report which will be presented to Herts County Council on Tuesday, the county Highways Committee states: “The average life of surfacing material which can be laid on these roads is only15 years even when it is regularly surface dressed.

“This, together with the increase of traffic, is the cause of the greater number of potholes and the channel disintegration seen on many of our roads now.”

[From the Watford Observer of March 3, 1967]