Press
How good are your roads?
Every year since 2016 the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which keeps its eye on rail operators and National Highways, has reported on the performance of the strategic road network across England’s various regions. It does this by comparing a series of key performance...
Vive la difference!
For an illustration of the gaping cultural chasm between the UK and our French neighbours, look no further than our pothole campaigns. While Manchester’s self-styled road artist, Wanksy, draws attention to potholes by spray painting large phalluses around them, a...
Live Labs to tackle net zero highways
On 2 April, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced funding for a second round of Live Labs projects: £30m will go to projects which demonstrate how we can move to net zero highways in construction and maintenance. Details on the three-year programme are as yet...
Why councils are planning to miss net zero dates
New research from countryside charity CPRE shows that councils are creating local plans which mean they won’t meet their net zero carbon goals. Over 300 councils have announced climate change emergencies and over half of those have set a net zero carbon date of 2030 –...
How much does it cost to repair a pothole?
It would cost £12.64bn to get through the backlog of carriageway repairs in England and Wales and the average time for maintenance backlogs to be cleared would be nine years. These are the headline figures from the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA’s) Annual Local...
Lower Thames Crossing
On 14 March National Highways announced the shortlist of bidders who can now tender for the two road contracts for the Lower Thames Crossing, worth £1.9bn in total. One of the headline aspects of the contracts is that they will involve agreeing “ambitious” carbon...
No more noise!
How would you feel if Metallica rocked up outside your house and started playing? Aside from the metal fans among you, the likelihood is that you would feel quite annoyed. It’s difficult to concentrate – or conduct online meetings – with that level of noise in close...
Where do road planings go?
Traditional pothole repair involves cutting out a rectangle of asphalt around the hole using saws and jackhammers, to create vertical edges against which new asphalt can be compacted. But where do all those road planings go? The answer is likely to be to join other...
Lower carbon roads?
There are lots of stories about low carbon and even net zero carbon roads at the moment. This is good news, because it means that road authorities are willing to look at new ways of doing things to cut carbon emissions. But what does it all mean? The UK asphalt...