Report shows worst regions for A-road surface conditions 29 November 2023

(Image credit: AdobeStock By offcaania)

An ORR (Office of Rail and Road) report has found the condition of road surfaces in National Highways’s East region is lower than the rest of England.

The East region covers Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire.

ORR’s Benchmarking Road Surface Condition Report (www.is.gd/xosite) sheds light on the factors affecting road conditions. The East region trails the national-level target by nearly 3% and has had the lowest proportion of good condition road surfaces for the last three years. The East region’s strategic road network has a higher proportion of A-roads, which are harder to maintain and has more concrete roads, which do not perform as well as asphalt. However, new data shows that while these effects are significant, the East region underperforms even when these factors are accounted for.

Feras Alshaker, director of planning and performance at ORR said: “National Highways has met its road surface condition performance target for the sixth year running. Our report is an important tool that we expect National Highways to use to understand the variations in the company’s regions and share intelligence with road operators elsewhere to help ensure performance is maintained at a consistently high level.

“We will continue to hold National Highways to account, including on road surface condition, a key output of its asset management decision making, on behalf of all users of the strategic road network.”

Author
Transport Engineer

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