Motorists in England are now able to scrutinise how swiftly their local highway authority (LHA) is tackling potholes following the introduction of a traffic light system.
A map released by the Department for Transport (DfT) grades 154 LHAs based on current road conditions and gives them a red, amber or green rating for the effectiveness of their pothole-fixing measures. The rating also takes into account how much the LHAs are spending on road repairs and whether they are following best practice.
Last year, the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) estimated that the cost of repairs to rid England and Wales of its pothole problems and bring the road network up to ‘ideal’ conditions had reached almost £17bn.
The government subsequently committed an additional £7.3bn to local road maintenance funding in November’s budget, although this still leaves a sizeable shortfall in the AIA’s estimates. It hoped that the new funding would go towards longer-lasting fixes that would be cheaper in the long term...