UK’s potholed roads see insufficient repairs

The UK’s potholed roads are seeing insufficient repairs.
By MJ Woof April 1, 2021 Read time: 2 mins
The UK’s pothole problem continues as insufficient funds are available for effective maintenance – image © courtesy of Mike Woof
The UK has a severe road maintenance problem, due to inconsistent funding, according to a new report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA). This problem with funding leads to local authorities using quick fixes rather than long term solutions to carry out maintenance and repairs.

The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report states that maintaining roads to target conditions is still out of reach for local authorities in England and Wales despite an increase in highway maintenance budgets.

According to the AIA's survey, the legacy of inconsistent funding in England and Wales is preventing highway engineers from being able to provide long term, cost effective maintenance improvements for local roads.

The 26th survey reports a 15% increase in highway maintenance budgets which were, in part, due to additional funding from the UK Government, including the Pothole Fund in England, as well as supplementary funds. However, budgets reported are still lower than they were two years ago, and road conditions have yet to see any significant improvement.

This approach is resulting in wasteful patch and mend repairs as local authorities have a statutory duty to maintain the highway but do not have the funding to implement more cost effective, proactive repairs.

This is borne out by the large increase in the number of potholes filled over the last 12 months in England and Wales, the equivalent of one being filled every 19 seconds. Local authorities also report that, despite the increase in budgets, target road conditions still remain out of reach. If they had enough funds to meet their own targets conditions across all road types, there could be an additional 23,000km of local roads in a good state of repair and another 3,200 fewer km in need of urgent repair.

The AIA says that while extra funding in 2020/21 was welcomed, using it to repeatedly fill in potholes is essentially a failure as it does nothing to improve the resilience of the network. The average frequency of road surfacing is now once every 68 years and the bill to fix the backlog of maintenance work on our local roads in England and Wales remains in excess of £10 billion.
Maintenance

Related Content

  • The cycle of potholes in the UK
    May 9, 2019
    Since 2015 almost a million potholes have been recorded annually by UK local authorities, with the 2016 count reaching 1,088,965, according to an insurance provider. The Insurance Emporium obtained data from 175 local authorities and compared it to the incidence of injury and damage claims made against these authorities by cyclists. During 2017-18, there were 335 pothole damage and injury claims filed against local authorities. Personal and dental injuries to cyclists accounted for 16% of these and d
    Read More
  • Pothole patching problem for UK
    May 3, 2012
    In the UK severe winter conditions for the second year in succession have resulted in an increase in the number of pavement surface failures and potholes developing. With local authorities facing budget cuts as part of the UK Government's austerity drive to reduce debt, there is little funding left for planned road maintenance work, let alone repairing potholes. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents local authorities in England and Wales, says that there is a shortage of some €194 million
    Read More
  • The UK’s AIA appoints David Giles as new chair
    June 20, 2024
    Giles, with Continental Bitumen, was previously with Shell for more than 36 years and was UK general manager of Eurobitume between 2018 and 2021.
    Read More
  • A future UK government should focus more on potholes and road safety
    April 10, 2015
    With a national UK election looming next month, a future government must make road safety a top priority, said the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Half of motorists in a recent survey of 2,156 people, and conducted IAM in March, said the current administration has not given the issue as much attention as is needed. The number one issue that the government should be focussing on, according to 70% of respondents, is the reduction of the number of potholes. The backlog of repairs now tops more
    Read More

Highlighted Content