Yesterday, a World Economic Forum report claimed that the roads in Britain are some of the worst in the developed world, and compared them to those found in Namibia.
According to the report, the UK’s infrastructure has more in common with that found in developing countries and lags behind the vast majority of other European countries, as well as the US.
Even Chancellor George Osborne admitted it during his budget speech, when he said: “Four-fifths of all journeys in this country are by road, yet we rank behind Puerto Rico and Namibia in the quality of our network.”
It’s interesting to note though, that Britain’s road network is around 10 times bigger than Namibia’s and copes with over 15 times the traffic. Furthermore, Namibia’s road network is actually regarded as one of the best on the African continent.
Nevertheless, the state of Britain’s roads is something that’s been a constant source of annoyance for the public for years, with a Department for Transport survey revealing last September that only 30 per cent of people are satisfied with them.
Chair of the public accounts committee, Margaret Hodge, said: “Public satisfaction with the condition of our roads is at the lowest level since the surveying of this began in 2008.
“The department’s piecemeal and stop-go approach to funding for road maintenance in recent decades has made it difficult for highways authorities to maintain roads cost-effectively.”
She went on to claim that the approach of patching roads up rather than taking preventative action was the source of the problem, and also revealed that compensation payments for damage caused by poor road conditions cost £31.6m last year.
Likewise, council data obtained from a Freedom of Information request in 2013 showed that, on average, there’s one pothole on every mile of Britain’s roads. In total, potholes make up a total area of over 295 square miles, more than twice the size of the Isle of Wight.
In fact, potholes in the UK are so extreme that Honda constructed a four-mile test track at their Hokkaido facility in 2013 specifically to mimic British roads in order to ensure its cars can cope with them.
So why exactly is it that our roads seem so uniquely terrible when compared with other countries in Europe, and why does the problem keep reoccurring over and over again?
Well, according to motorsport and engineering group Prodrive, which runs Subaru’s WRC team, the problem with Britain’s roads may actually lie with our volatile weather system.
A report from the group stated that while roads in continental Europe suffer mostly from frost damage, the fact that it rains so often in the UK means that it causes additional damage by washing out material from the road.
This, coupled with Britain’s generally softer and rougher road surface (again a product of having such a wet climate), means that roads in the UK regularly undergo twice the damage suffered by the average road in Europe or further afield.
Roadworks have also been blamed for the incessant problem of decaying road surfaces, with the Asphalt Industry Alliance claiming that by opening a road surface just one, its lifespan decreases by up to 60 per cent.
What’s more, some industry engineers believe that as many as half of the potholes in the country can be directly attributed to the two million roadworks projects on our roads each year.
So where next for the roads, and is it too late to reverse the damage? Well, as part of his budget announcement, the Chancellor said that revenue generated from the updated VED system will be put towards a £15bn pot to revamp the roads from 2017 onwards.
Billed as the Roads Investment Strategy, the money will reportedly be put towards more than 100 road improvement schemes across the country to tackle the lacklustre roadways and do away with the previous “stop-go” approach.
Motoring groups welcomed the plans, with RAC director Professor Stephen Glaister saying: “That the government is investing money along whole lengths of roads and not just a mile or two here and there is to be welcomed.
“This is not about concreting over the countryside with new roads but upgrading many existing routes which have been the source of misery to motorists for years if not decades.”
However, not everybody’s so sure. Labour opposition rubbished the plans, with shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher claiming that it’s “yet another re-announcement”.
He said: “We know David Cameron’s record on infrastructure is one of all talk and no delivery. Infrastructure output has fallen significantly since May 2010 and less than a third of projects in the Government’s pipeline are actually classed as ‘in construction’”.
What do you think of the state of the roads? Does the new government’s plan seem like a good idea, or will it be just another drop in the bucket? Why not let us know your thoughts on our Facebook and Twitter channels!
