ROADS are reaching “breaking point” as pothole repairs hit an eight-year high, a report says.
Councils expect to fill in two million potholes this year, up 43 per cent.
Roads at ‘breaking point’ as repairs hit 8-year higher cent on last year’s 1.4 million.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance says the figure is the worst since 2015 when 2.2 million tarmac craters were patched up.
The AIA says filling in more potholes means councils are not able to fix roads properly before they start to crumble.
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But it adds that authorities do not have funds for repairs.
Its annual Alarm survey found that despite a 2.3 per cent rise in highway maintenance budgets, inflation means it is a cut in real terms.
It said 47 per cent of local road miles were in a good condition, 36 per cent were adequate and 17 per cent were rated poor.
Meanwhile, the repairs backlog reached a record £16.3billion, up from £14billion a year ago.
The report followed the Government’s October announcement that it would provide £8.3billion to fix potholes with money from the scrapped extension of HS2.
AIA chairman Rick Green said: “The rate at which local roads are suffering is accelerating towards breaking point.
“The money from the Government is clearly not enough to halt the decline.”
The Department for Transport said: “It’s the biggest funding rise for local road improvement.”
Government also said £38million would be spent on improving England’s deadliest roads.
