The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has published a new and updated compendium of facts and figures behind the UK’s deteriorating local road network together with a range of recommendations to address the issue
Howard Robinson, RSTA chief executive said: “‘Potholes: the vital statistics’ is a sad indictment of the failure by successive governments to properly invest in a well-maintained local road network. To put it in context, the combined spend of local authorities on local road maintenance amounts to just 1% of the estimated replacement cost of the UK’s greatest infrastructure asset.
The 2017 statistics are pulled from a wide range of government and industry sources and they underline the result of decades of under-investment in maintaining the local road network
According to the 2017 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey it would cost £12.6 billion and take 14 years to fix the current backlog of pothole repairs. This cost has increased from £11.8 billion. Lack of funding has forced one in five local authorities in England to cut their overall highways and transport budgets. More than half have cut spending on road maintenance by an average fall of £900,000. Meanwhile, as the local road network deteriorates, it is expected to carry more and more traffic. Department for Transport statistics show that traffic is at a record high with 325.1 billion vehicle miles travelled in 2017 – an increase of 1.4% over 2016. The local road network showed the largest increase. A-road traffic increased by 1.1%, minor roads were up by 2.1%, motorway traffic increased by 0.9%
Insurers Confused.com have demonstrated the depth of the pothole problem and calculated that when combined the total depth of UK potholes 2017 was 40km. That is almost 4 times deeper than the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench (11,000m)
RSTA argues that a well-maintained local road network is essential to the social and economic well-being of the country. It connects the national motorway and trunk road network, ports and airports and so has an important role in increasing national productivity. “All journeys start and end using the local road network. Government continues to fail to understand the direct correlation between a well-maintained local road network and a prosperous economy,” said Robinson. “Investing in high profile projects is fine but you need the well-maintained infrastructure to connect those projects. There is little point HS2 shaving 40 minutes of the London to Birmingham train journey time if your car is made unroadworthy by a pothole when trying to get to the station.
RSTA is calling for a number of actions to address the issue of deteriorating local roads. These include Inject an additional £1 billion into road maintenance by investing just 2p a litre from the existing fuel duty. Ring-fence local highway budgets. Starved of funding, by 2020 local councils will spend 60p in every £1 raised by council tax on social care leaving less to fund essential road maintenance. Above all, no more lip service from national government. There needs to a real understanding of the essential role that the local road network plays in the national social and economic well-being of the country coupled with real meaningful action
“Motorists pay £26.9 billion in fuel duty, £25 billion VAT on fuel and £6.1 billion for other motoring taxes. An annual total of £58 billion. These statistics show that they are getting a very poor return for their money, said Robinson
‘Potholes: The Vital Statistics’ is available as a free download from: http://www.rsta-uk.org/pot-holes-vital-statistics/