Shropshire is not alone in facing a pothole crisis but it is very bad here. The roads are in the worst condition that they have been in living memory. This article looks at why that has happened and what Shropshire Council is doing about it. Cars are not causing the damage, just suffering from it with wrecked tyres and axles.
The damage to our roads has been caused in part by an increase in HGVs and vans in recent years. Also, by a few bad winters. The major reason is a lack of investment in preventative maintenance: either surface dressing or complete resurfacing with work to improve drainage. Shropshire Council used to spend above 90% of its highways budget on preventative maintenance. But after the harsh winter of 2023/24, maintenance dropped to 75% of budget. At the same time the roads budget was cut. We are facing the consequences of that cut and the change in priorities. The result is pothole agamemnon.
The severity of winter shown is an assessment of how rain and cold have affected road surfaces (see below). Highways data.
Everyone is frustrated by the state of the roads. In an unusual move, David Vasmer, the cabinet member for roads, has issued an open letter on the pothole crisis. Potholes have increased 77% year on year. So far this year, 25,000 potholes have been repaired. The rate of repair is increasing with three new repair teams and aided by the improved weather. Preventative maintenance has been increased and is approaching 90% of budget.
In Ludlow, Upper Galdeford and Sheet Road are to be resurfaced later this month into next. Expect extensive disruption. I’ll update on that once we have more details.
Vehicle size has been a major contributor to road damage. HGVs lead to about 10,000 times as much damage to roads as cars. The number of HGVs on the road has increased by around a third since 2015. Vans cause five to ten times the damage of cars. Around a million more vans are being driven on UK roads compared to 2015. However, the increase in weight of cars due to increasing adoption of electric models with their heavy batteries and SUVs, both of which make vehicles up to a third heavier, has no significant impact on road damage. [1]
The situation is grim. Along with getting extra crews out on the roads to repair potholes, Shropshire Council is changing the way it uses highways contractors. Some contractors have proved better than others. We all remember the appalling Keir resurfacing applied to Dinham using a crew from Norwich. Another company, Multevo have proved to be far more competent in the quality of repairs and more flexible in accommodating local needs. We are making greater use of Multevo but contractual and capacity constraints means that the teams we use to repair the roads cannot be changed overnight.
There is a particular problem with Parys Road between Sheet Road and Tollgate Road. This stretch of road was built in the 1970s to serve the new Tollgate estate. It has a thin asphalt layer on a thin sub-base because it was designed to take light residential traffic. When the road was extended in 1986 to take industrial traffic, the extension was provided with a stronger sub-base and thicker tarmac but not the original stretch of road. That is why it is only the 150 metres from Sheet Road to Tollgate are wrecked. The road is in a dangerous condition with some of the deepest potholes in Ludlow. I am pressing for immediate patching. That won’t last long and Ludlow councillors are pushing hard to get this stretch resurfaced and made up to a grade that will support the HGV traffic the road gets daily.
A note on severity of winters
- 20/21: Severity for Roads: Moderate; Several cold spells with freeze–thaw cycles; some pothole formation but overall damage likely typical.
- 21/22: Severity for Roads: Low; Winter relatively mild with fewer freezing events; lower than usual freeze–thaw damage to road surfaces.
- 22/23: Severity for Roads: Moderate; Notable cold spell in December 2022; freeze–thaw conditions likely caused increased cracking and potholes early in 2023.
- 23/24: Severity for Roads: Very High; Wettest winter half-year on record in England and Wales; repeated storms and saturated ground led to major road deterioration and widespread potholes.
- 24/25: Severity for Roads: Moderate; Rainfall still above normal in some areas; damage partly reflects deterioration following the exceptionally wet previous winter.
- 25/26: Severity for Roads: High; Another very wet winter with rainfall significantly above average; persistent saturation likely accelerated road surface failures and pothole formation. [2]
[1] Engineers use a fourth power law to determine the relationship between weight and road damage. That means doubling the axle load produces 16 times the damage to roads. Although HGVs have got heavier, from 32 tonnes in 1964 to 44 tonnes in 2001, the increases in weight were spread over more axles, increasing from three to six, thereby reducing additional road damage.