The number of miles of road in England resurfaced or given life-extending treatment is at its lowest point in five years, according to an analysis of government data by the RAC.
The motoring organisation said figures show that 1,123 miles of all types of road were resurfaced in 2021-2022, compared to 1,588 in 2017-2018 – a 29% reduction.
For surface dressing – a technique that extends the life of roads – the figures were 3,551 miles in the last financial year compared to 5,345 five years ago – a 34% drop.
Three in 10 (31%) of the 153 highway authorities included in the latest data (2021-2022) did no resurfacing, while half (51%) carried out no surface dressing work.
The average length of road resurfaced for all authorities over the 12 months was 13 miles, or 42 miles for surface dressing.
The RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said the figures ‘confirm our worst fears about the overall decline in the state of the country’s roads’.
He said: ‘While the Government has made more money available to authorities to fill potholes, it’s the general reduction in road improvement work that’s causing potholes to appear in the first place.
‘The fact that such a large proportion haven’t done any surface dressing or resurfacing at all over a 12-month period really does say it all.’
Mr Williams urged councils to make greater use of surface dressing and other preventative treatments and the RAC pointed out that according to the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) it costs £5 per square metre to surface dress a heavily-trafficked A or B road compared to £30 per square metre for conventional asphalt resurfacing.
RSTA chief executive Paul Boss said: ‘Proactive surface treatment maintenance programmes, backed up by a risk-based approach to resurfacing the worst roads, have been proven to keep roads in better condition for longer, and that’s why private road operators use them.
‘There has never been a more important time to undertake preventative maintenance on roads in what we call Green and Amber conditions, even where pothole repairs may well be required before the surface dressing can be undertaken.
‘The preventative dressing on Green and Amber carriageways will keep them in a safe and serviceable condition, enabling authorities to manage their Red roads that require high investment maintenance solutions.’
Kent resurfaced the most miles of A road, while Lincolnshire did the most surface dressing, on its A roads. Hertfordshire resurfaced the most B, C and unclassified roads and Norfolk did most surface dressing on these categories.
Southend-on-Sea resurfaced the greatest proportion (13%) of its A-road network, while Blackpool surfaced dressed 43% of its 26 miles of A-road. For B, C and unclassified roads Tower Hamlets did the largest proportion of resurfacing at 14% and Reading surfaced dressed 15% (34 miles) of its network.
