Highland Council trials new mobile service for handling pothole repairs

A pothole - Image credit: Flickr creative commons

Highland Council is trialling a new mobile service in Sutherland for dealing with potholes.

Six of the council’s roads and transport teams are piloting a mobile technology called ‘TotalMobile’ that allows for more efficient route planning, job scheduling and customer updates. 

Area roads operation manager Graham Mackenzie explained: “The main principle behind the pilot is to directly connect customers with our staff carrying out the work locally.

“Once reported through our online form at www.highland.gov.uk/roadfaults the pothole request is sent directly to the Sutherland mobile teams. 
 

“There’s a clever algorithm in play that receives requests in real time and carries out planning activity automatically and distributes to the teams’ diaries.

“It sorts the jobs by date logged and area and sifts through requests to provide the most effective routes.

“Staff are then directed to the pothole using standard smartphones recording their visit while carrying out the work.”

The Sutherland pilot will run for three months and depending on feedback, it may be rolled out to other Highland Council areas.

Councillor Allan Henderson, chair of the council’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee welcomed the new pilot.

He said: “This is a very welcome new initiative as what’s important to The Highland Council is to provide our customers with an update on the potholes they report.

“That’s why there is an inbuilt automated email facility to update customers and tell them as soon as the pothole reported has been repaired.

“I look forward to hearing the results of the pilot.”