UK’s road surface dressing up by 3.2 million square metres year-on-year

Britain’s notoriously pot-holed roads might finally be getting the repairs they need.

A recent report from the Road Emulsion Association found a 3.2 million square metre rise in road surface dressings year-on-year.

The Road Emulsion Association (REA) represents businesses that supply a wide range of bitumen emulsion products to prepare and protect the UK’s motorways, airfields and trunk roads.

The number of potholes is one of the biggest issues on our highways and byways. Much of the damage is caused by frost and rain attacking the surfaces of carriageways across the UK. Bitumen emulsion is applied to protect the tarmac from the elements, while the road surface dressing is a waterproof layer to protect the surface against fierce weather conditions.

In 2023, the supply of road surface dressings dropped to a 12-year low and saw just 35.3 million square metres worth of our roads receiving the treatment. However, this year, from April to September, that figure has increased to a total of 38.5 million square metres of the nation’s road network being fixed – which is a nine per cent increase year-on-year.

Kevin Maw, REA consultant and secretary, said: “This is positive news for the highways industry and road users. While we have a long way to go to get back to the volumes of bitumen emulsions used produced in the years up to 2012 to enable 60 plus million metre squared per annum of surface dressing, this shows that the trend has started to turn, which is encouraging.’’

‘’The fact that so little surface dressing was carried out last year helps explain why drivers are so angry and frustrated with potholes, something we’ve very clearly seen in research for this year’s RAC report on motoring, with 56 per cent of drivers listing the poor state of local roads as their number-one motoring concern.”