With
local authorities continuing to come under fire for the number of potholes on
local roads, Aggregate Industries’ Contracting Division has revealed that
standardisation of asphalt specification could help to improve the durability
and performance of local roads.
It comes as latest figures suggest that motorists are facing the worst pothole crisis in
almost a decade, with a record 10,000 reported in the last four months.
According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance, around a fifth of UK roads are
considered ‘structurally poor’ - meaning that they only have five years of life
remaining.
For cash-strapped local authorities facing a £9.31bn road repair backlog, the result
has been mounting pressure from the public to improve the condition of local roads – and standardisation of asphalt
specification has a huge role to play, says Aggregate Industries.
Paddy Murphy, Managing Director of Contracting
Services at Aggregate Industries, commented: “There’s no mistaking that repairing potholes on local roads is
expensive business and, credit to many cash-strapped local authorities, over
the past decade they’ve collectively spent more than £1bn fixing 17.9 million
potholes across the UK.
“However, at present many local councils take a
reactive approach to road maintenance, whereby each local authority uses
different methods and materials to carry out roadworks, including pothole
repair – meaning the process can sometimes be inefficient and costly. As such, given the escalating
deterioration of Britain’s roads, the case for local authorities to adopt a
standardised strategy to asphalt specification and road surfacing has never
been greater.
“For local governments grappling with ever-tighter
budgets, carrying out
planned and proactive road maintenance doesn’t have to cost the
earth. In fact, with the help
of road surfacing experts such as ourselves it can actually go a
long way in preventing potholes from
occurring in the first place – and in the long-run will prove much more
cost-effective in building a road network for the longer term.”
