Roads in England and Wales Facing Huge £16.81 Billion Rebuild

Roads across England and Wales are facing a repair backlog of £16.81 billion and an annual survey claims it will take 12 years of continuous work to complete.

The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM), carried out by Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), was released on Tuesday 18 March, as it confirmed the worrying financial figures that are needed to repair the damaged roads in both countries.

The survey report also concluded that 52 per cent of local road networks, which equates to 106,000 miles, have only 15 years of structural life left. Britain's pothole issues have been one of the leading reasons for the decreased quality of the roads.

The annual survey is now in its 30th year as the report published for the 2024/25 financial year also revealed that each council would require an additional £7.4m in their budgets alone to meet their own targets and prevent roads from worsening.

Further findings from the Asphalt Industry Alliance claims that 24,400 miles (12 per cent) will most likely be required to need maintenance in the next 12 months and that 1.9 million potholes were filled in across the 2024/25 period at a cost of £137.4 million over the same timeframe.

A statement from Chair of the AIA, David Giles, said: “Almost all local authorities have told us that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their network over the last year, with 65 per cent stating that conditions have declined: a view no doubt shared by road users.

“Over £20 billion has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade but, due to the short-term allocation of this funding, there have been no significant improvements in structural road conditions. It’s well documented that any investment made in local roads provides an effective return on investment for tax payers.

“This year authorities actually reported a drop in their total highway maintenance budgets. However, they have spent a higher percentage on the carriageway itself in an effort to sustain increasingly necessary carriageway maintenance. The result is that more than half of the network is reported to still have less than 15 years’ structural life remaining – with 34,600 miles of these in poor condition – while 4,100 miles have also deteriorated into lower condition classifications.”

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