Nottingham City Council has started resurfacing work on a long-criticised stretch of Queens Drive, a key route into the city centre that has been plagued by potholes for several years.
The works cover the section of Queens Drive between the A52 Clifton Boulevard and Wilford Road/Waterway Street West, with the most intensive repairs taking place between Crossgate Drive and Castle Bridge Road, leading towards Castle Marina Retail Park. The road has become notorious among motorists for its cracked and uneven surface, with regular complaints about vehicle damage and road safety.
The resurfacing scheme started on January 19 and is scheduled to continue until March 6. Contractors are working overnight between 8pm and 6am on weekdays. During these hours the road is closed, although from February 6 it is due to reopen with lane closures in place rather than full closures.
Queens Drive has repeatedly been highlighted as one of the worst roads in Nottingham for potholes.
Coach driver Julian Chatwin-White, who has lived near the road in The Meadows for almost 20 years, said the poor condition has caused damage to vehicles and created hazards for drivers attempting to avoid potholes by swerving. He said it had taken a long time for the issues to be addressed, but described the newly resurfaced sections as noticeably smoother and a significant improvement.
Nottingham City Council has previously resurfaced other parts of Queens Drive, including sections closer to the city centre beyond Wilford Road in 2025. However, the mid-section currently under repair, near Experian Way, has been widely regarded by residents and drivers as the most severely damaged.
Clifton resident Michael McCarthy, who does not drive but regularly walks along the route, said the potholes posed risks to both motorists and pedestrians, including the potential for tyre damage and accidents. He said the works appeared to mark a shift towards repairing heavily used main roads rather than focusing solely on residential streets, and believed the improvements would help in the long term.
Retired residents Peter and Margaret Sparks, both in their 70s, also welcomed the resurfacing. They said the road had once been maintained more regularly, with full relaying carried out overnight, but that in recent years repairs had been more piecemeal and short-lived. They described sections of the carriageway as having been in poor condition for at least five or six years, making it difficult to avoid damaged areas, particularly for cyclists and motorcyclists.
Councillor Linda Woodings, the city council’s executive member for regional development, growth and transport, said the authority’s highways teams were carrying out a full resurfacing of the road between Castle Bridge Road and Crossgate Drive. She thanked road users for their patience during the overnight works and advised those who normally use the route at night to check Transport Nottingham for the latest diversion information.
She said the scheme is being delivered with a £350,000 allocation from the council’s Local Transport Plan under the 2025/26 Highways Planned Maintenance Programme, which prioritises works using a data-led approach based on engineering inspections. Councillor Woodings added that since May 2023 the council has resurfaced 250 roads, improved more than 100 footpaths and filled over 37,000 potholes across the city. The Queens Drive works were scheduled between January and March to fit around other construction activity, contractor availability and the requirement to complete projects funded through this programme by the end of March 2026.
