Inside UK’s pothole crisis as HALF the country’s roads are crumbling

HARD-UP motorists are sinking into pothole hell, a report warns today.

Fewer craters get fixed, almost half our roads are falling apart and the repair backlog is at a record high.

Yet drivers are hit for billions in tax and duty.

Experts say it will take 11 years to get them up to scratch — with one Tory MP branding it a “national embarrassment”.

Angry motoring groups said drivers deserve better as they face a ten per cent rise in road tax next month — on top of huge sums in fuel duty.

The shocking report, by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), found 51 per cent of England and Wales’s 205,400 miles of local roads are in good order.

A third are adequate.

One in six — 37,000 miles — desperately need an upgrade before they become dangerous.

The cost of the road repair backlog is reported to have increased 11 per cent on last year to a new high of £14billion.

The report added: “That is the equivalent of £68,000 per mile of local road, and would take an average of 11 years to complete.”

Pothole repairs have fallen to the lowest figure in a decade as inflation squeezes council budgets.

A total of 1.4million were filled in last year at a cost of £93.7million.

Yet 1.7million potholes were filled in each of 2021 and 2022 — and 2.7million in 2015.

Last week’s Budget pledged a £200million pothole fund.

Critics want five times that, and the AIA’s Rick Green warned: “The one-off payment is not enough — and will do little to stem further decline.”

The report revealed a pothole is filled every 22 seconds.

Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the transport select committee, blasted: “This pothole black hole is a national embarrassment. Drivers wouldn’t be mistaken in thinking ­carriageways have gone to pot.”

The RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said the report made for terrible reading.

The AA’s Jack Cousens added: “Years of sticking-plaster solutions haven’t solved the problem, so it’s now time for serious investment.”

The Department for Transport said: “We are investing more than £5billion from 2020 to 2025 into local highways maintenance, and recently announced an extra £200million to fix potholes.

“This will help make journeys smoother and safer for all, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads.”