Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
(asked on 16th April 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support councils to repair road damage caused by the increased use of roads by heavy goods vehicles.
Potholes are a menace to all road users and the Government is taking the steps to help local highway authorities improve the condition of the roads for which they are responsible, including tackling potholes.
Accordingly, the Government is providing £296 million between 2016 and 2021 to local highway authorities in England, outside London, to help repair potholes and stop them forming.
This funding is in addition to just under £6 billion which the Government is providing to local highway authorities for local highway maintenance in England, outside London between 2015 and 2021.
The Department for Transport announced in January 2017 that it is undertaking an innovative trial on the way potholes are identified and managed, working in partnership with Thurrock, York and Wiltshire councils and two private sector SMEs, Soenecs and Gaist. This trial allows high-definition cameras to be mounted to refuse collection vehicles and by deploying innovative intelligent software will identify road surface problems before they become potholes. The trial recently won an award for the best use of new technology in the highways sector.
The Government also announced in March 2018 that it is investing more than £900,000 in innovations using connected vehicles to help councils more efficiently manage and plan maintenance works.
These trials will ultimately help provide councils with data to enable them to repair potholes before they occur as well as maintain their other assets more effectively as part of their asset management plans. This will help prevent further potholes and other road defects occurring over time.
The Department for Transport is also providing funding to the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to work on technological and innovative improvements to future-proof the local road network.