Kickstarting our economic recovery with roads investment

In May, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that journeys on local roads, railways and motorways will be smoother and safer thanks to a multi-billion-pound infrastructure package

The Department for Transport says that hundreds of millions of pounds worth of upgrades have already been made to the nation’s road and rail networks during the lockdown period, with more planned over the coming weeks and months. Although lockdown measures have been eased, we are far from out of the woods. However, there will undoubtedly be more cars on the roads as people return to work, shops and small businesses reopen and people begin to see slightly larger groups of people.

The ‘multi-billion pound road and railway investment’ will target around 11 million nuisance potholes, but will also see smaller improvements completed to upgrade local networks, such as enhancing road safety at key locations, the installation of priority bus lanes, and the creation of projects to help lock in improvements in air quality experienced during lockdown.

Shapps said: “There has been a monumental effort in every corner of the country to slow the spread of the virus and protect our NHS. However, the battle is not over yet and we urge everyone to keep up the good work and only travel when they need to. To help those who do have to use public transport or get out on the roads to do their jobs, we’ve been accelerating infrastructure upgrades to make sure that, as we gradually reopen our society, everyone can benefit from smoother and safer journeys with better connections for our future.”

Welcoming the announcement Rory O’Connor, interim chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, said: “The additional funding is welcomed both for helping to address the £11.14 billion local road repair backlog and for its recognition of the importance of having a well-maintained local road network for the national economic well-being.”

Road defect targets

The announcement is particularly welcome given research in March finding that only one-in-ten local authorities are meeting their own target times to fix potholes and road defects. The research from Cycling UK found that out of 85 local authorities who responded to Freedom of Information requests, only one in 10 successfully repaired all reported potholes. North Tyneside Council was one of the most effective authorities, repairing all 39,258 identified potholes on time between 2015-19, while Wakefield City Council was the worst performer, managing to fill only 13 per cent of reported potholes on time.

While no part of the UK performed well, one in six English authorities meet their target times of three weeks for non-urgent potholes. However, not a single responding authority in Scotland or Wales achieved this.

Cycling concerns

While potholes are a real problem for everyone who uses the roads, they pose a particular risk of injury to cyclists. At least 448 cyclists have been killed or seriously injured on our roads over the past 10 years, with three deaths in 2018, the last year with available data. The charity has suggested that this is only the tip of the iceberg, with most crashes never reaching the statistics if no police officer attends the scene.

Mike Harper, former chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, said: “Cyclists are amongst our most vulnerable road users. For them a deterioration in the road surface can result in serious, life-changing injuries. There is currently a £9.7 billion backlog of local road maintenance, Despite the Chancellor’s recent Budget pledge to provide an additional £2.5 billion to maintain local roads over the next five years, the backlog, continued cuts in funding and the ever increasing use of roads means that local councils are fighting a losing battle and find it difficult to keep pace with the level of road repairs required.

“The injection of additional funding is welcomed. However, the government needs to examine how to provide assured, long-term funding that will allow local authorities to carry out programmes of preventative maintenance that would keep roads in good condition and stop the potholes from forming the first place.”

FURTHER INFORMATION: www.rsta-uk.org