webtag values of time21, this implies that nearly 1.3 billion hours are added to travel time because of potholes costing £13.1 billion using a weighted average cost of time22. This estimate excludes time lost from added congestion and from delayed freight. In addition, emissions are boosted by cars slowing down and speeding up. In total this study suggests that emissions are about 0.5 tonnes of CO2 higher because of potholes. Using a shadow price for CO2 emissions of £50 this gives a cost range of these higher emissions of £25 million. Conclusions – what should we do? So the total annual cost of potholes in England amount to £14.7 billion. As it happens, the cost of rebuilding the roads to abolish all the current potholes and make it harder for new ones to appear is estimated by the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance and Repair Survey23 to be £16.3 billion. This means that every road in the country could be rebuilt for the cost of the economic damage in roughly thirteen months from potholes. It looks like a no brainer to do this. But no brainer cost benefit analysis rarely guides policy decisions in government….. Douglas McWilliams View From The Tent February 2024 21 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tag-data-book 22 Updated from the £12.7 billion estimated last year using the webtag data 23 https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/pothole-repair-bill-hits-163bn-half-of-roads-15-years-from-failure
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