Pothole problems - are road conditions set to get worse?

This annual report presents information on the condition of roads in England, covering surface condition, skidding resistance, highway maintenance treatments, and expenditure

Automated survey machines and visual surveys are used by Local Authorities and National Highways to monitor the condition of the road surface.

With winter fast appraoching, the data – collected from April 2020 to March 2022 – has caused alarm for drivers and motoring groups.

In fact, one third of all local roads in England are now in need of urgent maintenance and repair.

The annual report only includes Local Authorities with valid data available. In total, 109 local authorities in England provided data for the year ending March 2022.

Further data revealed that 79% of local authorities reported an improvement or no change in the proportion of ‘A’ roads categorised as needing repairs or maintenance between the years ending March 2013 and 2022.

• The RAC Guide to the Great British Pothole and Other Road Surface Defects
• UK companies responsible for ‘plague of potholes’ set for new government penalties
• Report a pothole and find out how to claim for damage

With road conditions not seeing any improvement in recent years, and colder weather now here, could there be trouble ahead for road users?

News reports across the country last week showed that drivers could be set to see more potholes appear on all types of roads.

This is because there are growing fears that £500m could be taken out of the £2.5bn Potholes Fund in order to tackle the current economic crisis.

This was after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that there would be spending cuts across all government departments in the immediate future.

Following the release of the DfT data and speculation that the Potholes Fund may be under threat, drivers in England may suffer from worsening road conditions in the future.

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “The fact there has been no discernible improvement in the state of our roads in the last two years despite having milder-than-average winters does not bode well if temperatures plunge in the next few months.

“Our research shows that the majority of drivers believe local road conditions have worsened in the last 12 months and our Pothole Index suggests drivers are around 1.5 times more likely to suffer a pothole-related breakdown than they were in 2006.

“A lack of adequate funding for the nation’s local roads remains the biggest issue and drivers will be wincing if any further cuts to budgets are announced in the forthcoming Autumn Statement.

“Cutting pothole funds would be huge backward step, heaping yet more misery onto drivers and businesses who will need to fork out for costly repairs to vehicles, while also increasing the risk of roads becoming safety hazards for cyclists.”

Have you noticed the quality of UK roads suffering in recent years? Have you personally had a bad experience with potholes recently? Leave your comments below.