12 Years £12 billion – The Time and Money needed to fill UK Potholes
3
Apr
14
12 Years needed to clear the pothole backlog
£12 billion needed to fill the potholes
Damage to Vehicles to cost another £31.6 million in claims
If you thought that you will see no more potholes on the roads this year then you will be disappointed. One will have to wait for 12 years before the roads are all clear with London facing a 14 year wait. The government will have to spend £12 billion to get UK roads back into a sound state. These figures come from the annual study carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA).
For the second year running, over 2 million potholes were filled in England and Wales. However, poor weather over the winter means limited effectiveness of these efforts. Moreover, there is a major shortfall in the budget needed to repair the potholes and return the roads into reasonable form. A 20 per cent decrease was seen in the figure needed due to local authorities spending more on maintenance to fill last year’s deficit.
The data also shows that 8 per cent of UK roads are in poor structural condition and the AIA is advising the Government to adopt an ‘invest to save’ policy, preventing further shortfalls and reducing the long term backlog in road repairs. At the moment it costs over 20 times more per square metre to fill a pothole, than to resurface the road saving money in long-term repair costs. The UK road network is in a very sorry condition, with 18 per cent of UK roads in poor structural condition, the report found out. The report also reveals that almost a fifth of the roads in England have less than five years of life remaining.
Also revealed was the sorry condition of the existing road network, with 18 per cent of UK roads in poor structural condition. This means that almost a fifth of the roads in England have less than five years of life remaining. An increase of 20 percent was seen in compensation claims for damage to cars caused by bad roads in 2013. The average claim rate currently stands at 530 per local authority (excluding London) at a total cost of £31.6 million.