FTA calls for more reliable, resilient roads

The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the Government’s decision to offer local highway authorities £80 million to fix the roads most damaged by severe weather.

However, with the possibility that we will see more occasions when severe weather will affect our road network, highway authorities must look at their whole life maintenance plans to build and maintain more reliable, resilient roads.

Good practice examples exist and have been highlighted by the Highway Maintenance Efficiency Programme, which produced a pothole review last July.  That report looks at how to embed good practice recommendations and what further action highway authorities must take to deal with the issue.

Malcolm Bingham, FTA’s head of Road Network Management Policy, said: “We have suffered from years of missed opportunities in highway maintenance and now is the time to take action to create resilience in the network – something that is vital to the economic future of the freight and logistics industry.”