Britain’s roads are ‘deteriorating’
Britain’s roads are continuing to deteriorate according to a new survey today.
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has published a survey, which shows that 72% of local authorities report deterioration in their local roads, footpaths and cycle ways over the last year.
It is now estimated that the maintenance backlog, which the Government wants to eliminate by 2010, has grown to £8.3 billion. Local authorities appear to be cutting back spending on roads and prioritising other areas of local spending.
The chairman of the ICE Municipal Engineering Board, John Sanders, commented: ‘At present, it is up to each local authority to decide how much of their allocated highways maintenance budget they spend accordingly. In some instances, little more than half is currently used to address the deterioration.’
Road planners are concerned that money spent often goes on the short term resolution of the symptoms of deteriorating roads, rather than on ensuring roads are structurally maintained. This is causing many to take the view that government leadership on the issue is not strong enough.
Ring fenced funding for road maintenance is one proposal made by ICE, although this may not prove popular with local authorities who feel they have too many limits placed upon them.
Although local authorities are responsible for 96% of Great Britain’s 370,000 kilometres or road network, there is no standard method to assess road standards or calculate the spending required. ICE has noted this and has called for one to be created.
In a fillip for the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, the survey also discovered a widespread belief that congestion charging in central London has been a big success, and many respondents to the survey expect it to be extended to other cities.
