Local authorities have faced a record £18.62bn backlog of carriageway repairs despite increased highway maintenance funding, a new survey has found.
The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, commissioned by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), reported that additional investment had yet to deliver visible improvements across England and Wales.
AIA chair David Giles said: “I think all road users would agree that the condition of our local roads has become a national disgrace.”
He said the scale of deterioration reflected long-term underinvestment and the impact of adverse weather, adding that increased funding would not clear the backlog in the short term.
Highway maintenance budgets for 2025/26 rose by 17 per cent to an average £30.5m per authority.
More than half of this funding was spent on road surfaces and structures, according to the ALARM survey.
However, councils said they still needed an additional £1.37bn to maintain networks at target condition, up 10 per cent on the previous year.
The report found that only 51 per cent of local roads were in good structural condition. Around 16 per cent, equivalent to more than 32,500 miles, had less than five years of structural life remaining.
Local authorities would have required an average extra £8.1m each in 2025/26 to prevent further deterioration. Roads were resurfaced on average once every 97 years.
A total of 1.9 million potholes were filled during the year, equivalent to more than 5,200 each day.
AA president Edmund King said deteriorating road conditions and wet weather had led to a rise in pothole-related incidents.
He said the organisation attended 137,000 such incidents in January and February 2026, up 25,000 year on year.
Local Government Association inclusive growth committee chair Tom Hunt said councils continued to face pressure despite additional funding. He said authorities were balancing rising repair demands with constrained budgets.
The survey also reported that clearing the backlog would reduce annual maintenance costs by £1bn, allowing funds to be redeployed elsewhere.
Industry figures called for funding to be brought forward to accelerate resurfacing programmes and reduce reliance on short-term pothole repairs.
Source: Asphalt Industry Alliance announcement
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Ben Vogel