Road Emulsion Association (REA) consultant and secretary Kevin Maw outlines the organisation’s latest campaign, ‘Future-proofing Our Local Roads’.
The perfect storm of reduced funding, climate change and reactive rather than preventative maintenance strategies has left us where we are today.
More than a decade of cuts has forced local highway authorities to take a risk-based approach to managing their roads, operating with lean teams and even leaner contracts. The maintenance backlog can has been kicked down the road.
Established in 1928, the REA supports all the UK’s bitumen emulsion manufacturers. Members supply a range of highway products, including micro-surfacing, bond coat, slurry seal emulsions and surface dressing products.
Our latest campaign, Future-proofing Our Local Roads, aims firstly to advocate for adequate government funding and secondly to promote the benefits of preventative road maintenance.
We hope to encourage local authorities to prioritise preventative maintenance while effectively addressing the existing backlog of potholes.
We didn’t want to launch a campaign that solely focused on the negatives and gave people yet more doom and gloom, so our campaign has a positive undertone that will see us shine a spotlight on the UK’s good roads. It isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that our local roads, which make up 97% of the UK road network, can be pothole and defect-free.
Many councils across the country have taken steps to futureproof their networks and invest in sustainable solutions such as surface dressing.
The A441 Alvechurch Bypass in Worcestershire was surface-dressed in 2017 and the A1198 Caxton Bypass in Cambridgeshire was surface dressed in 2018. The images below were taken in June 2024 and clearly show both roads free of potholes and defects, demonstrating the value of surface dressing.
(Above left-right) The the A441 Alvechurch Bypass and the A1198 Caxton Bypass
Gary Schofield, head of technical for TotalEnergies, recently appeared on Highways’ All Roads Lead podcast. He discussed how the B6241 Tom Benson Way in Preston was also still pothole-free 15 years after its surface dressing treatment. How are these three councils overcoming the barriers to operating preventative maintenance?
Garreth Kelly, highways manager at Lancashire County Council, says: ‘We recognise the part preventative maintenance plays in protecting our asset. We carry out a substantial annual surface dressing programme to eliminate further water ingress and reduce the need for costly structural repairs in the future.’
In the last 12 years, the use of surface dressing has declined by 46%. Information collected last year from our members shows the lowest amount of product used for this preventative maintenance solution since records began in 1978.
It’s no coincidence that during the same year we saw an all-time-high number of potholes. The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey Report (ALARM) revealed that almost two million potholes were filled over the last year – up more than 40% from 1.4 million in 2022.
The condition and maintenance of local roads in England, compiled by the National Audit Office, recommended that the Department for Transport review its approach to allocating capital funding to be more targeted and effective, and work out a plan to provide long-term funding.
Within the highways industry, and specifically within the surface treatments sector, we have people with the technical skills and knowledge to advise local authorities on sustainable, preventative treatments that can eventually lead to pothole-free roads.
With targeted funding, effective planning, and a willingness to approach highways maintenance differently, we believe we can begin to reduce the number of potholes year-on-year.
REA campaign supports the industry – both private and public sector organisations. To join REA in advocating for preventative maintenance treatments like surface dressing, get in touch by emailing kevin.maw@rea.org.uk and we’ll share our campaign pack.
