ADEPT potholes media enquiry- 'Whilst the small increase in Pothole Action Fund allocations for 2017/18 is welcome, it falls significantly short of what is needed across the country'
Parvis Khansari, Chair of ADEPT Engineering Board said: “Whilst the small increase in Pothole Action Fund allocations for 2017/18 is welcome, it falls significantly short of what is needed across the country. The 2016 AIA survey found that the entire highway infrastructure maintenance backlog (including roads, bridges and street lighting) stood at £11.8bn. Even assuming that full incentive fund allocations are secured by Local Authorities, future yearly highway capital maintenance allocations are only ‘flat-lined’meaning that no extra funds are available for adopting new roads or to mitigate the impact of various forms of construction-related price rises (such as for oil and fuel). Funding that is already insufficient has to be spread thinner and thinner year on year.
“Although recognising the importance of local road networks, Central Government has not injected more money into critically needed routine highway maintenance, leaving ADEPT members and all local highway authorities disappointed. Filling potholes is a symptomatic reaction, so the highways sector continues to explore ways to cost effectively perpetuate a ‘patchwork quilt’ approach instead of being able to proactively intervene earlier in the road deterioration cycle. Early intervention techniques (such as surface course rejuvenation methods) and innovative techniques (particularly increasing exploration of small-scale on-site road surface patch recycling) continue to be deployed, but these are not the answer.
"The Government’s media-led fixation on potholes is distracting attention from what should be the real focus - overall road condition. Although the recent milder winters are disguising the ongoing road deterioration process – a severe winter will have a major and costly impact on road condition and the Government needs to be reminded of this fact. ADEPT members regularly submit accurate information to the AIA as it strives to compile up-to-date backlog figures and we encourage all local highway authorities to do the same.
"ADEPT members and local authorities are developing highways asset management strategies to make best use of limited resources for maintaining the roads. It is now for the government to introduce a steady long term funding mechanism to enable delivery of these strategies.”
For the full article in Environment Journal, see http://environmentjournal.online/articles/cometh-hour-cometh-potholes/