More than 24,400 miles of road in England and Wales have been identified as needing essential maintenance within the next 12 months by the latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey.
The survey, conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) and now in its 23rd year, is widely regarded as a reliable indicator of the balance between prevailing road conditions and local road maintenance funding. And it indicates that the imbalance is getting worse.
This year local authorities in England and Wales report that the gap between the funds they received and the amount they actually needed to keep the carriageway in reasonable order was almost 拢556m 鈥� a shortfall of 拢3.3m on average for every authority.
The AIA calculates that it would now take 14 years to get local roads back into a reasonable state 鈥� provided adequate funds and resources were available.
AIA chairman Rick Green said: 鈥淎lthough local authorities report an increase in average highway maintenance budgets this year, looking back over the last decade they have barely kept in line with inflation.
鈥淭his is reflected in road condition, with one in five of our local roads now classed as structurally poor (with less than five years鈥� life remaining) compared with one in six reported last year.
鈥淟ocal roads are a vital asset, worth in the region of 拢400bn, and they support all aspects of our daily work and home lives. But funding for their adequate maintenance has fallen short for so many years that further deterioration is inevitable,鈥� added Green.
Though the AIA accepts that there is no instant solution 鈥� and no money-pot to dip into 鈥� it says the government has some difficult decisions to make on both the local and national level.
鈥淭he government needs to provide adequate funding for a well maintained and safe local road network if it wants to support communities and drive economic growth,鈥� commented Green.
The 2018 ALARM survey was completed by 60% of authorities responsible for roads in England, London and Wales and was carried out between December 2017 and February 2018.
Among its main findings is that the average time before a road is resurfaced in England is 92 years. In London the time averages out at 31 years and in Wales it is 71 years.
The report says that it would take 14 years to get all the 24,400 miles of damaged road back into reasonable condition and, if done in one hit, would cost 拢9.31bn, equating to 拢72.3m per authority in England, 拢14.6m in London and 拢27.4m in Wales.
The survey also identified a clear north-south divide with local authorities in northern England receiving only about two-thirds of the highway maintenance funding received by those in the south. On average, only 拢19.32m is spent per authority in the north compared with 拢26.95m in the south.
Poor quality local roads are not just unpleasant to drive on but are also dangerous for drivers and costly for local authorities. The AIA鈥檚 ALARM survey estimates that the total cost of road user compensation claims in England last year was 拢19.5m. London boroughs paid out 拢8.2m in compensation and in Wales the figure was 拢590,000.
Martin Tett, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, said that although local authorities had made some progress towards tackling the road repair backlog, they are battling to keep up with increased traffic levels.
鈥淢ore cars on our roads, together with continuing extreme winter weather conditions, means that government needs to keep funding of local roads as a priority in its spending plans,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t is wrong that funding for local roads is miles behind that of the strategic road network. Very few journeys begin and end on a motorway or trunk road yet government funding on the strategic road network is 52 times higher than for local roads,鈥� added Tett.
鈥淪pending more on improving our national roads will only serve to speed vehicles up between increased delays and congestion on local roads鈥�.
Tett鈥檚 comments were echoed by Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, who said:
鈥淚t is easy to understand why our roads are literally fraying at the edges. After World War II there were 2 million cars in Great Britain. Today there are more than 30 million.
鈥淭he road network is as much a vital utility as the energy, water and telecoms systems and yet we risk taking it for granted. Adequate investment is needed, if not to bring every inch up to a perfect standard then at least to arrest the decline that is all too evident to tens of millions of road users.鈥�
The full 2018 ALARM survey can be downloaded at
This article was first published in the May 2018 issue of 海角社区app magazine, which you can read for free at
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