Utilities firms across the UK are being urged to utilise emerging asphalt innovations to tackle the increasing number of potholes on national roads.

This call comes after new research was published from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) revealing that the number of potholes filled in over the last year jumped by a quarter, from 1.5 million in 2018 to 1.86 million so far in 2019.

The research adds to a consultation launched by the Department for Transport (DfT) in March which proposes that gas, electricity and communications firms must fix potholes which form within five years of work that requires breaking and repairing a road. This would be an increase to the current two-year guarantee, with the DfT hoping the new standards will push contractors to use better quality asphalt materials.

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Aggregate Industries has welcomed this move, calling it "crucial" to extend the current lifetime of road repairs. This includes making use of the latest advances in asphalt such as SuperCurve, a high performance 10mm polymer modified asphalt, which has been specifically designed and engineered to provide an enhanced surface course for higher stressed areas.

In line with recommendations made by the AIA, Aggregate Industries is also calling on the government to create a more robust investment strategy for maintaining the long-term condition of local roads through regularly resurfacing programmes, which it says is the best way to prevent potholes from forming.

Chris Hudson, Managing Director of Asphalt and Readymix at Aggregate Industries, added: "Potholes are symptomatic of poorly maintained roads and potential underlying structural issues. All councils have seen a significant decrease in road surfacing frequency in recent years to once every 67 years when ideally they should be resurfaced between 10-20 years.

"Rather than having a reactive programme of providing local authorities with last-minute funding to patch up potholes after bouts of bad weather, what we as an industry really need is a long-term funding framework. Crucially, this will allow councils to implement a full resurfacing programme, which will go a long way in preventing potholes from forming in the first place."

(CM/MH)