THE big freeze has had a devastating effect on our roads – now the Lancashire Telegraph has launched an initiative to help you navigate the potholes.

Pothole Watch follows the successful Grit Watch in which you told of us roads which had not been gritted correctly.

We are urging readers to send in photos of the worst-hit roads in East Lancashire.

The Lancashire Telegraph will compile a gallery of your photos and keep you informed as to when the potholes have been fixed.

We’ll also bring your photographs to the attention of highways departments at Lancashire County Council or Blackburn with Darwen Council, who are responsible for repairing the damage.

Many potholes have appeared because of water repeatedly freezing and expanding in cracks in the road during the big freeze in December.

Motorways, main roads and side streets – nowhere has escaped the problem.

Lancashire County Council said it expected to spend £24million over the next four years repairing potholes.

Bosses said work is already underway and insisted that the issue is ‘top of their list’ in terms of priorities.

County Coun Tim Ashton said: “We see highways as a priority because we realise people have got to get about the network in Lancashire.

“We've had two extreme winters where the temperatures have been very low and it means we've had to invest some more money in those repairs to potholes."

In Blackburn with Darwen, resurfacing work has got underway on many badly-affected stretches including the A666 through Darwen.

Coun Dave Harling said: “Lots of roads have been badly affected.”

Send us your pictures

Advice

Include your name and the street the pothole is in.

Place a ruler next to the pothole in your photo to help us to see the scale of the problem.

Please make sure you are careful when taking photographs on the roads.

Click on the link below to see the photos of potholes submitted by Lancashire Telegraph readers so far.