Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
(asked on 15th July 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) how long it would take to give all roads in the United Kingdom a surface treatment using super flex asphalt, and (2) the cost of doing so.
Answered by
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No assessment has been carried out concerning the time and cost required to resurface the road Network in England applying this specific proprietary product.
Both Highways England, as a publicly owned company responsible for the strategic road network and local highway authorities, responsible for maintaining the local road network, allow the use of many materials for treating highway surfaces. The Department for Transport is aware of a number of local highway authorities currently using Superflex asphalt to help repair their roads. Using this product is entirely a matter for each individual highway authority to decide.
It is important that products can demonstrate that they can achieve certain standards of safety, durability, environmental, and life cycle benefits. Suppliers promoting their road surfacing products have to undertake strictly managed trials before they can be widely used on the network.
Highways England is currently undertaking initial trials to assess the performance of Superflex on the network. The trials are likely to be completed by 2017.