Clearing the backlog of local road repairs would take 14 years and cost £9.3 billion according to LGA (Local Government Association).
UK motorists made the equivilent of 989 trips to Mars and back in 2016
English roads are urgently in need of investment, with drivers covering 277 billion miles in 2016. With the number of journeys increasing by 17 billion since 2010, the LGA says that government must spend more to ensure the road infrastructure is able to cope. It says that reinvesting 2 pence per litre of fuel would raise £1 billion every year to spend on road repairs.
“The amount of time that drivers in the UK are spending on our roads continues to sky-rocket, with motorists driving the equivalent of 989 trips to Mars and back, two-thirds of which were on local roads. This consistent increasing use of our roads means that it is more important than ever for the Government to further invest in local roads,” says Martin Tett, LGA Transport spokesman.