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Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has launched a £7.85m Winter Recovery Road Fund to tackle the impact recent severe weather conditions have had across the network. Potholes on all major roads throughout the region are becoming an increasing hazard. The fund comes in addition to the 40 resurfacing schemes programmed following the Minister's December monitoring allocation.
Minister Kimmins said she is all too aware that the recent storms, prolonged rainfall, ice and snow have all taken their toll on roads, and she has been working to identify and secure funding to address the problem.
"Today, I can confirm that I have established a £7.85m Winter Recovery Road Fund to allow an urgent and direct focus on repairing the surface defects which are causing the most concern," she said.
The Minister added that the winter period has taken a severe toll on the road network. To put the current situation in context, 49,000 defects have been recorded in the last three months alone, which is close to half the total for the whole of the previous year.
Minister Kimmins said that given the scale of the damage caused, it is not possible to address every issue in the short-term. However, in addition to securing the additional funding being announced, she has also asked her officials to explore every avenue to maximise available workforce capacity to ensure they are doing as much as they can as quickly as possible.
"I am committed to doing all I can to improve our roads and the Winter Recovery Road Fund will allow vital repairs to the worst affected areas to be carried out in a focused way and completed as soon as possible," she said.
Speaking on other measures to help the condition of roads, the Minister said she wants to raise the standard of maintenance across the network, ensuring that interventions are timely, durable and delivered to consistently high specifications. She launched the new Road Maintenance Strategy in December which recently closed for public consultation and she hopes that people took the opportunity to respond.
Minister Kimmins concluded that the Winter Recovery Road Fund will allow additional repairs on the worst of the weather-impacted roads. This short-term boost is coupled with the longer-term strategy that will provide greater detail to inform strategic decision making.
"This will also continue to be supported by the ongoing reporting of potholes and surface defects via the online portal and I encourage the public to do this. Maintenance staff will continue to inspect and make-safe defects by working to address the highest priority defects as fast as possible, in accordance with our policy to ensure the safety of the travelling public," she said.
You can report a pothole at www.nidirect.gov.uk
