This year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey makes bleak reading, with worsening carriageway conditions and mounting costs set to spell more misery for road users.
The ALARM survey, published today by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, reports that local authority highway teams in England and Wales only received around two-thirds of what they needed to stop our local roads from further deterioration and that more than £14 billion is now needed to fix the backlogof carriageway repairs. They are not responsible for motorways in England and Wales, which are Government funded repairs.
Pothole problems are spreading, says the RAC.
Despite the small increase in overall highway maintenance budgets reported, less is being spent on the carriageway itself and rising costs due to in ationary pressures mean engineers have reported being forced to postpone or cancel road schemes to make savings.
Average pothole damage is costing drivers £300
Rick Green, AIA Chair, said, “Highway engineers can only do so much with the resources they are given and should be applauded for the steps they take to keep roads safe.
“Potholes and the condition of our local roads remain key issues for the public and the Chancellor went someway to recognising this in his Spring Budget. But the additional £200m one-o payment for local roads in England, while welcome, is just not enough. It represents around 20% of the average shortfall in English local authorities’ annual budgets and will do little to improve overall structural conditions and stem further decline.
“We all appreciate that there are di cult choices to make with demands and pressures on the public purse coming from every area, but not investing in local road maintenance only leads to worsening conditions, which impact on other locally provided public services, a rising bill to x the problem and more road user complaints.”
This year’s ALARM survey received a record number of responses from 75% of local authorities in England and Wales. It reports local road funding and conditions based on information provided directly by those responsible for its maintenance.
Rick Green added: “To really improve conditions and create a safe, resilient and sustainable network, what’s needed is a longer-term funding horizon from central government with more highway budget ring-fencing. This would help local authority engineers to plan e ectively and implement more e cient works to protect and enhance the resilience of the local road network.”