Skip to main content

Huge repair bill for Britain's potholes

Following one of the coldest winters in recent memory, Britain’s roads have stacked up an estimated £10 billion (€11.5 billion) repair bill just for potholes. These are caused by the freeze/thaw cycle: water seeps into cracks in the road surface, expands when frozen and then breaks up when it thaws. It has been estimated that in Britain there is at least one pothole for every 110m (sometimes many more) and that it will take at least 15 years to fix the problem.
May 15, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The coldest winter for many years has exploited Britain's roads, resulting in thousands of potholes
Following one of the coldest winters in recent memory, Britain’s roads have stacked up an estimated £10 billion (€11.5 billion) repair bill just for potholes.

These are caused by the freeze/thaw cycle: water seeps into cracks in the road surface, expands when frozen and then breaks up when it thaws.

It has been estimated that in Britain there is at least one pothole for every 110m (sometimes many more) and that it will take at least 15 years to fix the problem.

At present it is estimated that, apart from main routes such as motorways, there are some 1.6 million potholes on Britain’s 390,000km of secondary roads.

According to David Weeks, director of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), the country’s road network is in danger of falling to “Third World” levels.

Related Content

  • Major road plans are being set for Russia’s two key cities
    May 14, 2012
    Targets are being set for road investment, construction and repairs in Russia. To meet the country’s infrastructure needs, Russia’s National Association of Builders estimates that some 1,500km of roads must be built/year. Meanwhile the highway authorities in Moscow are aiming to repair around 33% of the city’s road surface every year. Some 23.6 million m2 of road surface will be repaired in Moscow during 2012, compared with 24.7 million m2 in 2011.
  • Ontario’s Highway 413 revisited
    June 27, 2025
    Final property acquisitions are taking place for construction of Highway 413 in the Canadian province of Ontario to start later this year.
  • New US$200 million ring road to be built in Belarus capital Minsk
    May 23, 2014
    Minsk is to benefit from a new ring road that will cut city congestion - Eugene Gerden reports The government of Belarus is investing more than US$200 million in the building of a new ring road around the country’s capital Minsk, in accordance with a government decree. Implementation of the project is taking place as part of the existing large-scale state road building programme in the country until 2017, with the total cost estimated at US$5 billion. The new road will measure some 85km long and will feat
  • A serious side to England’s funny funnel bins
    December 14, 2017
    The UK and Australia are trying to reduce litter on motorways and free up maintenance teams to pursue more urgent – and less dangerous - work Giant funnel bins are being installed at a dozen UK motorway service areas in north-west England. The bins, either 1.8m or 2.2m high, are next to Give Way lines at the exit of service area car parks. The bins allow both car and truck drivers to reach the half-metre-wide funnels from their vehicle window. Highways England is hoping that the bins’ ease of use will en