The UK is heading for ‘roadwork gridlock’ in the face of rapid upgrades, increasing traffic and poor cross-industry collaboration, according to new research on behalf of council road bosses.
Digital construction and maintenance technology provider Causeway Technologies said the data from its road management platform, one.network, shows that the number of roadworks across the UK increased by 42% between 2019 and 2023, with over 203,000 miles of roadworks taking place last year.
On top of this, the Department for Transport is predicting a 54% increase in road usage by 2060.
Causeway found that 72% of utility and 62% of local highway authority (LHA) leaders ‘believe that we are headed for a road and street work crisis by 2030 without greater industry collaboration’.
Challenges in planning, management and communication, coupled with growing demand for road access, were all cited as contributing to inefficiencies.
Mark Corbin, chair of the ADEPT National Traffic Managers Forum, called for the findings to be ‘a catalyst for change’.
‘We need a new era of collaboration where utility companies, contractors, local highway authorities and community stakeholders form strong alliances to plan, deliver and reduce impacts of roadworks,' he said.
‘Improving communications and transforming behaviours is not just a necessity, but must be seen as a strategic national imperative.’
Nick Smee, director for infrastructure at Causeway, said: 'It’s clear that if the industry continues to work in the same ways the wheels are going to come off.
‘Closer collaboration between everyone involved is vital to rolling out critical new services, whilst mitigating disruption to road users. Ensuring widespread access to clear and up to date data on planned works is a critical piece of the puzzle that the Causeway one.network platform is dedicated to solving.’
Causeway said works by utility firms are rising rapidly, driven by Project Gigabit - the Government's £5bn programme to enable remote communities to access gigabit-capable broadband - as well as asset upgrades and water leaks.
It said Project Gigabit contributed to a 108% increase in telecoms-driven roadworks between 2019 and 2023, during which time electricity works rose by 25%, and both water works and gas by 8%.
Four in five (81%) of LHA respondents said management and communications in roadworks and street works could be improved, while seven in 10 in utilities (71%) believe roadworks and street works are currently planned in a disjointed way.
Both LHAs (58%) and utilities (54%) cited poor collaboration as the main barrier to effective work. Half (50%) of LHAs said the ‘extreme demand’ for road access from a multiplicity of different utilities firms prevents road work planning and management from becoming more efficient.
However, the average time taken to complete individual works was down by 15.8% between 2019 and 2023.
After acquiring Yotta in 2022, Causeway acquired one.network in 2023, which has over 20,000 daily operational users and serves over 130 highway authorities and more than 180 utility and contractor companies helping them plan, co-ordinate, and communicate live road disruption information.
