How much worse are Britain's roads getting? More routes deteriorating into a poor condition as Labour increases funds to fix potholes

The Government has pledged to spend a record £1.6billion next year fixing potholes across England as part of its latest effort to tackle the biggest scourge on our roads. 'A' roads and locally managed motorways account for around 10 per cent of the Local Authority managed road network in England and carry approximately 31 per cent of all traffic, according to the Government research. The declining lines are a cause for major concern ‹ Slide me › These maps show the dramatic increase in roads considered to be in a poor condition over the last decade RAC head of policy Simon Williams commented: ‘While the percentage of A roads that are deemed to be in the worst ‘red’ condition doesn’t appear to have got any worse, it’s concerning to see that more roads that were in reasonable ‘green’ condition have now deteriorated to ‘amber’ status.’ Similarly, the report shows that the number of 'B' and 'C' roads – which together account for 29 per cent of local authority managed roads in England – now classified as ‘amber’ has increased by three per cent, from 28 per cent in 2022 to 31 per cent in 2024. Commenting on the three per cent amber increase, Williams pointed out that this ‘means approximately 1,500 miles of road around the country are now significantly worse than they were.’ To calculate these changes local authorities had to carry out Scanner surveys on 90 per cent of their 'A' road and motorways and 85 per cent of their ‘B’ road and 80 per cent of their ‘C’ road networks over a two-year period. Circa 38.5 million m2 of surface dressing was applied over the surface treatments season in 2024 - the first surface dressing increase in 12 years There's been a rise in 'permanent' road repairs Another report published in recent days shows that the volume of UK road surface dressing - when an entire stretch of road is relayed - has been tracking at its lowest ever levels for the last 12 years, which would account for the terrible state of British roads.