“Everyone depends on the UK’s network of local highways,” said CIHT Chief Executive Sue Percy.
“They are at the heart of our communities and these arteries of our country need to be invested in to ensure fitness to compete in the global economy.”
But, she added: “Despite the efforts of central and local government, the local highways network is not in a good state and not up to the job of supporting the country’s ambitions for the future.”
Headline recommendations in the review include establishing a 10 year additional funding settlement of £15Bn to address the maintenance backlog.
CIHT says an initial £7.5Bn should be allocated for the first five years and distributed to councils on a yearly, increasing basis, as a new national asset condition dataset is introduced. Distribution of the remaining £7.5Bn over the following five years would then take account of local authority performance, asset condition and road function.
Techniques should be updated for collecting condition data using the latest technology, and a standard measure should be used to calculate required funding, based on common standards of serviceability from a customer perspective, it adds.
A further recommendation is to better define how highways meet the economic and social requirements of local areas and create an improved system of performance monitoring.
Government is also urged to identify and develop new sources of revenue to fund local highways, including exploring the possibility of road pricing.
“We believe that through the recommendations outlined in ‘Improving Local Highways’, we can show how the highway network will support the delivery of a carbon neutral system, create sustainable, green, resilient and accessible places, make transport healthier, and help the economy grow,” said Sue Percy.
The Institution calls on the Government to consider its recommendations as it goes through the Comprehensive Spending Review later this year.
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