Image: AIA
More than one in five of the Capital’s roads are in poor structural condition, meaning they have ‘less than five years’ life remaining, a new report has found.
Each year the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) commissions a survey of highways departments in all local authorities in England and Wales to build a picture of the general condition of local roads.
The 2018 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey estimates that 23% of London’s roads are in poor condition – a year-on-year rise of 7%.
51% of roads are said to be in good condition (15 years or more life remaining), while 26% are rated adequate (between ‘5-15 years’ life remaining).
The 2017/18 survey also highlights a reduction in the estimated ‘one-time catch-up cost’ to get roads in London back into reasonable condition – from £686.1m in 2016/17 to £465.9m this year.
The report also found that the estimated time to clear the carriageway maintenance backlog in London dropped from 10 years in 2016/17 to nine years in 2017/18.
However, the funding gap between what local highway teams received and what they actually needed to repair and maintain roads, increased from £79.8m to £97.6m.
In terms of potholes, the report finds that the average number of potholes filled over the past year stood at 60,104 – down from 72,544 in 2016/17.
20 March 2018