July 2002

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FOCUS ON....ROAD SURFACES

We all know the problems that can be caused by bad road surfacing.  Hazards such as potholes, raised or lowered manhole covers, raised paint and inappropriate speed bumps can lead to many “heart in the mouth” moments.

The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) Survey was published on 21st May 2002. Key findings

The survey, which sought the views of all local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales highlights the compensation paid out to road users for accidents or damage caused by the state of the roads.

The Survey, conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), found a shortfall in road maintenance funding of £1.2bn between what local authorities claimed they needed to maintain roads adequately and what they actually received. In all, 80 per cent of those responsible for the maintenance of local authority roads believe that there is a threat to road
users' safety due to maintenance under-funding.

Almost one fifth (18 per cent) of the roads' maintenance budget of local authorities is spent on compensation with £121 million was paid out by Britain’s local authorities last year

Based on current budgets, local authorities can afford to resurface roads only once every 84 years as opposed to the 10-20 years that is recommended.

The need for structural maintenance on roads has doubled in the past 10 years and the number of visual defects, such as potholes and cracking, has increased by 89 per cent over the same period, according to the survey

Jim Crick, Chairman of the AIA said, 'The Government claims it is investing more in our transport infrastructure and in road maintenance, but something is going wrong somewhere as the money is clearly not getting through to those on the ground who need it.