The Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood has told Highways News that the country needs to get to a position with roads where local authorities are being able to plan ahead, agreeing prevention is better than cure.
In an exclusive interview for next week’s Highways Voices podcast (to be released on 26 March), Ms Greenwood admits she gets a bit frustrated about the fact we always talk about potholes, “because the public talk about potholes, and those are the things that they see”.
But she tells Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum that Local Authorities: “Are thinking about their long term asset management. They’re preventing road defects happening in the first place. And that’s where I want to get to…
“Listeners will have heard that we are committed to fill in an additional million potholes every year, and that’s really important, but it’s about so much more than that. It is about all parts of the highway and its infrastructure, and it’s also about getting to that more long term approach, so that local authorities are developing really good highway asset management strategies, because we know that’s better value for money for taxpayers, and it’ll lead to a better roads overall.”
In the interview, you’ll also hear about future funding, decarbonisation efforts and the value of technology in delivering better road management.
The full interview will be available on the Highways Voices podcast page.
(Picture – Highways Voices)
