Road repair cash crisis

11th November 1977, Page 5

11th November 1977

Page 5

Page 5, 11th November 1977 — Road repair cash crisis

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BRITAIN'S ROADS could reach crisis state unless more money is spent on maintenance an repairs, and county councils have hit out at the Government's "short-sighted" policy on roads.

This week the British Roads Federation joined the attack with a statement that the rundown o the county road network has now produced evidence of a deterioration in the country's roads.

"Many councils now have evidence of the damage already caused and have give estimates of the cost of repairing the neglect," says the BRF. In a paper on road maintenance the BRF claims road users are suffering extra noise, danger an discomfort — and the bill for rescuing our roads from disrepair will be enormous.

"Local authority warning have been ignored. In th transport policy White Pap€ in June the level of spendin on local roads maintenanc was cut even further," says th BRF.

And many councils have n ported to the BRF that the have not been allowed t spend enough to prever deterioration from gettin rapidly worse.

The report quotes a Greater London Council saying that claims against t1 council for structural damai to property caused by v bration will undoubtedly ii crease.

And the amounts of ea: spent on road maintenam will have been cut by a fifth the end of the decade fro 1970.

The money has dropp( from £2,200 to £1,700 a mi over the 10-year period.

Yet the cash spent on roa has had to go further.

A look at the demands county council cash for roa show that the numbers heavy vehicles have quadru led since 1966 and delays road improvement schem have meant that hew vehicles are using roads n designed to cope with t strain — and that pushes maintenance costs.

As winter approaches th( is a grave danger, says t BRF, that the country's ro conditions could reach cri point with frosts breaking road surfaces and less ca available for salting and gi ting icy roads.

And the situation will a lead to increasing damage vehicles using ba( maintained roads and incre ing danger to both drivers a pedestrians.