An astonishing 18 per cent of roads in England and Wales will be undriveable in five years’ time unless billions of pounds of investment is made, according to a new report.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey suggests that one in five roads – equivalent to 37,000 miles – are in such poor condition that they have less than five years of life left in them.
A total of around £14billion is needed to fix every pothole in England and Wales. This estimate is £2billion higher than that made in last year’s ALARM survey and £5billion more than was needed in 2012. The Government recently announced an additional £200million of investment in pothole repairs, meaning a total budget of £700million for 2023/24, but motoring groups said this would not make much difference.
The ALARM report places local roads into one of three categories – good (more than 15 years of life remaining), adequate (between five and 15 years of life remaining) and poor (less than five years of life remaining).
Although more than half of local roads are currently classed as good, there are approximately 100,000 miles of asphalt that will need rebuilding at some point in the next 15 years.
Rich Green, chair of the AIA, said: “The findings of this year’s ALARM survey make for bleak, if not unsurprising, reading. Local roads underpin all other local services, but findings show a worsening picture in their overall conditions and the means to improve them.
“Resurfacing now takes place, on average, less than once every 100 years,” Green added.
He concluded: “It’s clear from the column inches and social media posts devoted to potholes that the condition of our local roads remains a key issue for the public. Materials innovation and technical advances can only go so far – they are not a silver bullet. Without a change to the funding structure and the amount allocated, local road conditions can’t – and won’t – improve.”
Now read more about the 2023 Spring Budget’s impact on pothole repairs…
