Road conditions in England continue to deteriorate according to Gov statistics

18th Dec 2024

The latest Department for Transport (DfT) data has highlighted the concerning state of the roads across England.

In 2024, the proportion of roads requiring maintenance remained largely the same as the previous year.

However, DfT data revealed that local A roads needing maintenance was at 4%, which has been stable since 2020, when it rose from 3%.*

While the percentage of roads needing ‘red’ (most urgent) repairs has remained at 4% since 2020 for local A roads, the percentage of ‘amber’ road has increased.

Since 2020, the percentage of ‘amber’ road has increased from 24% to 27% and the percentage of ‘green’ road has decreased from 73% to 68%.

Regarding B and C roads needing maintenance, this has risen to 7%, which has increased from 6% 2022.

Looking at the data for all other types of roads in England, 17% need maintenance to get back up to standard – however, this percentage remains unchanged from the previous year.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “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.

“Unfortunately, this is also the trend with B and C roads with 3% more of these now being categorised as ‘amber’ which means approximately 1,500 miles of road around the country are now significantly worse than they were.

“Drivers’ surveyed for this year’s RAC Report on Motoring listed the poor state of local roads as their number one motoring issue of concern.

“We badly need to end the decline in the condition of our local roads, so we hope the Government’s new approach to highways funding will enable council to plan longer-term maintenance that finally addresses this.

“We’re very encouraged to hear the Government talking about the need for preventative maintenance, such as surface dressing, as we know this is key to improving road surface conditions for the future.

“This way potholes will be prevented from appearing in the first place.”

What do you make of the Government's 2024 road conditions statistics? Is there something more that can be done to improve the situation? Leave your comments below.

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^{*Definition of road surface condition categories:}

^{Red - Should have been considered for maintenance. Treatment may or may not be required, but the road should be investigated fully.}

^{Amber - Maintenance may be required soon.}

^{Green - No further investigation or work is needed.}