£126m a year to keep the roads in shape

Roads Minister Danny Kennedy also revealed it was independently established in 2012 that £126 million is needed to maintain the road network in its current condition every year.

The total cost of repairing a range of surface defects, such as, cracking, potholes, depressions, and edge deterioration was £56,663,000 between 2009/10 and 2011/12.

But maintaining the roads to a decent standard costs even more.

Mr Kennedy stated: “It has been independently established that some £126 million, at 2012 prices, is needed annually to maintain the road network in its current condition. “However, this figure does not include maintenance costs for the majority of the motorway network and some of the trunk road network which is maintained by private companies, on behalf of Roads Service.”

He said the funding allocated to his Department historically was well below what was needed and there was a maintenance backlog of £800m in 2011.

He added that Roads Service expenditure on the road network in 2011/12 was £120 million and the budget for 2012/13 is likely to be in the region of £110 million.

This, he said, was higher than in the past.