A new report has found that 16% of London’s roads are in ‘poor’ condition, meaning they need to be repaired within the next five years.
Published yesterday (28 March), the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey estimates represent a 4% year-on-year rise.
The report also describes 39% of the Capital’s roads as adequate – a 6% year-on-year reduction – meaning they will require attention within the next 5-15 years. 45% are described as being in good condition, meaning it will be more than 15 years before they need to be repaired.
Each year the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) commissions the survey of highways in all local authorities in England and Wales to build a picture of the general condition of local roads. This year 44% of London’s authorities responded to the survey.
In more positive news, the report also finds that the estimated one-time catch-up cost to get roads in London back into reasonable condition has fallen to £686.1m in 2016/17 – meaning the average one-off investment required to per authority is £21.4m (down from £22.1m).
On top of that, the funding gap narrowed last year between what local highway teams received and what they actually needed to repair and maintain roads.
An average annual carriageway maintenance budget shortfall of £2.5m per authority does however mean that the Capital’s councils were still £79.8m short of what was required to keep the network in ‘reasonable order’ during 2015/16.
The report also found that the estimated time to clear the carriageway maintenance backlog in London dropped from 16 years in 2015/16, to 10 years in 2016/17.
In terms of potholes, the report finds that the average number of potholes filled over the past year stood at 72,544 (fewer than the previous year), at a cost of £6.2m.
Photo: _chrisUK via Flickr. Use under Creative Commons.
29 March 2017