Highway authorities across England and Wales are under-funded by more than £1bn and are getting less than half of the money they need to maintain roads to an acceptable level, according to the 2008 ALARM survey.
The survey also found that all Welsh, and around 90% of English authorities, believe road maintenance under-funding is threatening road users’ safety. Other findings include a more than 60% increase in the amount of visual defects over the past 10 years, and an average budget shortfall per authority of £5M.
The survey, featuring responses from almost two-thirds of highways authorities, was conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA). According to the responses, even if authorities were given the required resources, it is estimated that it would take more than a decade to restore roads to a reasonable condition.
Lester Willmington, chair of the County Surveyors' Society highway management working group, said the ALARM survey highlighted the importance of the highway network to the economy of the country, its value and the need to sustain – and increase – investment in ongoing maintenance.
Warning of the vulnerability of the current funding structure, he said: ‘The total budget spend on carriageway structural maintenance, at an average of 40%, is largely underpinned by capital expenditure which might cause concern for the future.’
This is because it relies on grant and borrowing approvals ‘which might be affected by difficult money markets with a window of certainty only of two years’.
AIA chairman, Jim Crick, called for a shake-up in the handling of road maintenance. ‘Highways departments around the country are working harder than ever under increasing administrative, legislative and practical burdens,’ he said.
He also bemoaned ‘the huge number of road openings carried out by utility companies’. The average number of utility company trenches per authority during the year was 16,548, the survey found.
‘There is no doubt that these are necessary, but unless the regulations introduced as part of the Traffic Management Act make a major difference to the way in which they are handled, they will continue to be a serious threat to the condition of our road infrastructure in the longer term,’ he said.
For more information, see the AiA website
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