Comment: £8.3bn present is for a lifetime - not just for christmas

15/12/2023 |

Steve White, head of public sector at Causeway Technologies, looks at how local authorities can prepare for the sudden windfall of an additional £8.3bn funding package over 11 years.

Transport secretary Mark Harper called it 'the biggest ever funding uplift for local road improvements'. The question is, are local authorities ready to make the most of it? 

Given the road maintenance funding shortfall local authorities have faced for the last decade, this sudden investment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver real change for road users.

It’s vital that local authorities seek optimal paths to delivery. According to the latest figures from the Asphalt Industry Alliance, the current road maintenance backlog in England and Wales equates to £14bn.

Moreover, nearly one in five local roads in England and Wales are in such poor condition that they have fewer than five years of life remaining.

Don't underestimate digital solutions

When Causeway conducted research with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) about digital transformation in roads maintenance, it became clear that progress in adopting new technologies was limited to date.

From Causeway’s experience, a dramatic underestimation of the capabilities of the latest solutions compared to traditional asset management methodologies and legacy systems plays a role within local authorities.

What is now on the table for asset managers goes far beyond improving current schemes and addressing day-to-day issues. Gone are the days of standing around a map, plotting out assets and work plans.

The latest systems bring together a multitude of information regarding assets and operations to gain invaluable insights and deliver optimized maintenance strategies with ease, addressing short and long-term objectives and the needs of road users.

For example, Causeway’s asset management team recently worked with Brent Council to clear their pothole backlog. We partnered with Vaisala who carried out a video survey, identifying the potholes using their Road AI system. This took less than a week.

The survey data was analysed in Causeway Horizons, which generated prioritised work plans for the contractor two weeks after the project began. Using jet patching technology, within three months they had filled in around 5,000 potholes.

Once asset information is analysed in Causeway Horizons, it can generate multi-year schemes for road asset management almost instantly. These schemes can be sent to an operational asset management system that can turn them into work plans pushed out to field teams via mobile applications. All this can be done with minimal human input and automatically adapted in real-time to changing circumstances.

Adapting to local priorities

Beyond day-to-day operation, this system has huge benefits for local authority budget holders looking to demonstrate spending plans to council leaders. They can easily create multiple long-term plans and easy-to-understand visualisations to demonstrate what would be achieved with different budgets and priorities.

For instance, if a council wants to focus on improving road assets around a town centre, it's possible to show what progress would look like in 10 years compared to a scheme focused on residential areas – demonstrating exactly what the council would get for their money.

Once agreed upon, a scheme can be translated straight into an operational project and systems like Causeway’s Alloy can feed back to improve scheme modelling, generating even more value for local authorities and creating an automated feedback loop of continuous improvement.

The resources saved by doing this are huge. In one example, Causeway was able to secure Fife Council a remarkable 80% saving in time, as printed work requests, lengthy handovers, and manual input into systems no longer constrained repair crews.

Between August 2020 and December 2022, Fife Council completed 24,178 carriageway patching jobs - a notable improvement on previous rates and a big step towards reducing longstanding backlogs.

Moving beyond single asset management

Increasingly, the latest digital solutions also allow the full integration of different types of assets. This allows organisations to track multiple asset types and service areas in the same system, allowing for easy comparison of performance and behaviour across services.

This means plans can combine road maintenance, streetlights, trees, footpaths, cycleways and more. Much of this work can be automated in real time and updated to consider work that might be taking place across the different asset types. This eliminates crossover works and avoids localized disruption caused by concurrent or conflicting works.

The widening digital gap

Local authorities that are not engaging with the latest planning solutions are missing opportunities presented by new funding. Antiquated planning methods for road repairs have been holding some road maintenance teams back for years while those that have invested in digitalisation are already pulling ahead – the new funding will widen this gap.

Local authorities need to assess their processes today and ask whether they have the solutions in place to bring real value to motorists when the new funding is allocated.

Highways InProfile

latest magazine issue
Highways jobs

Senior Civil Engineer - Major Projects x 4

£45,894.00 - £54,952.00
We are looking for experienced engineers to help us progress a number of key projects and programmes Glasgow, Glasgow City
Recruiter: Transport Scotland

Technician - Maintenance

£31001.0000 - £36471.0000 per annum
Essex Highways is responsible for managing and maintaining one of the largest highway networks in the country
Recruiter: Essex County Council

Highways Contract Engineer

£46,731 - £49,764
The team helps provide a safe road network that operates efficiently and effectively.  Northamptonshire
Recruiter: North Northamptonshire Council

Principal Transport Planner

£46,731 - £49,764 (pro-rata)
We are looking for an experienced professional to join us on a six-month temporary contact as a Principal Transport Planner. Kettering, Northamptonshire
Recruiter: North Northamptonshire Council

Highways Maintenance Operative

£Competitive
We have a fantastic opportunity for a Permanent Highways Maintenance Operative Broughton, Brigg
Recruiter: Amey

Head of Highways Contracts & Network

£81,803 progressing to £90,664 per annum
The team includes approximately 60 directly employed HCC people Hertfordshire
Recruiter: Hertfordshire County Council

Principal Construction Manager

£Competitive
We are excited to offer a fantastic opportunity for a Permanent Principal Construction Manager Yorkshire and the Humber
Recruiter: Amey

Quality Technician

£Competitive
We are excited to offer a fantastic opportunity for a Permanent Quality Technician Yorkshire and the Humber
Recruiter: Amey

Senior Highway Engineer (Development Management)

£42679.0000 - £50211.0000 per annum
Senior Highway Engineer (Development Management)Permanent, Full Time£43,960 to £51,718 per annum*Location
Recruiter: Essex County Council

Project Manager (Major Projects)

£44,711 - £47,754
Are you an experienced project professional or engineer with looking to take the next step in your career? Halifax, West Yorkshire
Recruiter: Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council

Senior Civil Engineer - Roads

£45,894 - £54,952
Are you an experienced engineer looking to support the Scottish Government’s national objectives. Scotland
Recruiter: Transport Scotland

Senior Civil Engineering Technician

Grade 7 £29,093 to £32,654 per annum
We are looking for a flexible individual who has the ability to meet targets and analyse and resolve complex technical problems and formulate a design Durham
Recruiter: Durham County Council

Project Team Manager

£55,147 to £60,676 per annum
We are pleased to be able to offer an opportunity for a role as Design Team Manager Norwich, Norfolk
Recruiter: Norfolk County Council

Clerk of Works

GRADE 08 (£37,938 - £41,511)
Warrington is one of the most successful towns in the country Warrington, Cheshire
Recruiter: Warrington Borough Council

Assistant Projects Engineer

GRADE 06 (£29,093 - £32,654),GRADE 07 (£33,366 - £37,035), GRADE 08 (£37,938 - £41,511)
Warrington is one of the most successful towns in the country Warrington, Cheshire
Recruiter: Warrington Borough Council

Principal Engineer - Traffic Management

£45,718 - £48,710 per annum
At Bath & North East Somerset Council we have one overriding purpose – to improve people’s lives. Bath, Somerset
Recruiter: Bath & North East Somerset Council

Vehicle Technician - Improver

£28,624 - £30,060
Transport Services is responsible for all aspects of transport and related services Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Recruiter: Kirklees Metropolitan Council

Programme Delivery Office Administrator

Grade 9 £31,344 - £33,253 per annum
At Derbyshire, we have been on a journey to transform the way we deliver highway services to make them fit for the future Derbyshire
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Support Officer - Highways Asset Management Systems

£31,586 - £34,314
We are a forward-thinking organisation dedicated to maintaining and improving our highway infrastructure. Lincolnshire
Recruiter: Lincolnshire County Council

Principal Transport Planner (Strategy)

£46,731-£49,764
We are looking for an experienced professional to join North Northamptonshire Council as a Principal Transport Planner (Strategy). Sheerness House, 41 Meadow Road, Kettering moving to Haylock House, Kettering Parkway, Kettering NN15 6EY, United Kingdom
Recruiter: North Northamptonshire Council
SUBSCRIBE NOW

Latest Video

Subscribe to Highways today to ensure you keep your finger on the pulse of everything happening in the UK road network throughout the year.

SUBSCRIBE NOW