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AIA survey reveals rise in road holes
Page 12
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UTILITY COMPANIES dug 2,5 million holes in English and Welsh roads in 2007 an increase of 25% on the year before.
The increase was revealed in the 13th annual local authority road maintenance (ALARM) survey, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA),
The figure equates to an average 16,500 trenches dug in the roads of every local authority in England and Wales, all of which raise concerns about the need for early road resurfacing
and pressure on highway maintenance budgets.
The 2008 ALARM survey also records nearly a million potholes, a shortfall in maintenance budgets of nearly E1 billion and a backlog of work required that would take 11 years to complete, even given a full budget, Jim Crick, chairman of the AIA, says: "Despite some increase in central government funding, it seems highway maintenance is still suffering from being treated as the 'Cinderella service."