Guidance

Section 1: introduction and reporting of road condition

Published 17 December 2024

Applies to England

This document provides a brief introduction on the reporting of road condition and how it is reported to the Department for Transport (DfT). Here is a list of the other sections of the technical note:

• Section 2: measuring surface condition using automated visual methods

• Section 3: measuring surface condition using manual visual surveys

• Section 4: measuring skid resistance

• Section 5: measuring road structural condition

• Section 6: glossary of technical terms

Introduction

In England, there are around 300,000 kilometres (km) of public road. The road network is maintained by 3 main types of body: National Highways (NH), Transport for London (TfL), and local authorities.

They are each responsible for:

• routine maintenance - such as clearing hazardous defects, clearing debris and litter, treating ice and snow, clearing drains, and cleaning and replacing signs

• renewals - including new road surfaces, and other road works such as footways, cycle tracks, safety fences and drains

• structures renewals - for example, the repair and rebuilding of bridges and underpasses, tunnels and gantries

• construction of new roads where required

National Highways (formerly Highways England and the Highways Agency)

The Highways Agency was an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport (DfT), and was responsible for operating, maintaining, and improving the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport. The Highways Agency (HA) was replaced by Highways England (HE) in April 2015, changing from a government agency to a government-owned company. The last year of reporting by the HA was in year ending March 2015. HE was then rebranded as National Highways in August 2021, with the last year of reporting by HE having been in the year ending March 2021.

As the Strategic Road Network (SRN) is of a different nature to ‘local’ roads, NH have additional responsibilities, including technology renewals, such as the repair of variable message signs, cameras, emergency telephones and equipment in control centres

National Highways Traffic Officer Service is made up of staff that help to keep the SRN running by dealing with drivers and vehicles on the roads, accidents, traffic management, and keeping the carriageways clear of debris. They do not carry out the same work as police officers relating to crime or accidents, but work alongside them where necessary.

Transport for London (TfL)

TfL maintains the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN) which consists of some of London’s busiest roads. In addition to the ordinary tasks of running a road network as mentioned above, TfL also runs the Congestion Charge system in London.

Local authorities

Each local authority is responsible for maintaining the roads within its boundaries. These roads account for about 98% of all publicly owned roads in England. Highway matters are dealt with by the upper tier local authorities (County Councils) as well as the unitary authorities, metropolitan borough councils and London boroughs.

Data for rest of the UK

This publication only covers the English road network. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all responsible for maintaining their own roads. Links to their web publications and where to go for more information can be found below.

• Scottish Road Condition Surveys

• Welsh Road Condition

• Northern Ireland Road Network and Condition Statistics

Reporting of road condition

The statistical release ‘Road Conditions in England’ reports on a number of methodologies for assessing road condition. Automated methods are covered in Section 2, visual surveys are covered in Section 3, skidding resistance surveys are covered in Section 4.

The report is based on the measures that are now most widely used as network level tools. Another tool that is often used, but not so widely as a routine device, is the Deflectograph, which has been included in the technical note because it still has relevance to highway assessment.

The SCANNER, TRACS (see Section 2 for further details on these survey systems) and skidding data (see Section 4) provided in the release are all measures of surface condition, and in most cases are primarily used by highways authorities for operational purposes.

Both SCANNER and TRACS data are also used for reporting road condition. The former National Indicators (NI) 168 and 169 now listed on the Single Data list as 130-01 and 130-02 respectively. Both items use SCANNER results from UKPMS to report on the proportion of road that should have been considered for maintenance. Data from TRACS are used by National Highways (NH) (formerly Highways England and previously the Highways Agency) to report its Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

130-01 and 130-02 report the proportion of the network where maintenance should be considered (for example, where the Road Conditions Indicator is over 100). 130-01 and 130-02 draw on surveys from multiple years, if necessary, to cover as large a proportion of the network as possible. The statistics for surface condition on trunk roads provided by NH are produced from TRACS.

As the UK government is now providing NH with greater decision-making powers and increased, longer-term funding to manage the Strategic Road Network, it requires independent assurance about the levels of performance and efficiency that NH is delivering. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has taken the position of being the monitor of NH and its management of the Strategic Road Network in England, and publish an annual report of NH performance.

Differences between National Highways KPI and DfT statistics

The figures presented in the statistical release for NH surface condition and skidding resistance use underlying data which is different to that for NH’s KPI and therefore not comparable. Some key differences between the statistics are the TRACS data uses 100 m length weighted average data, and the skidding data uses averaging lengths of typically 100 metres. This is different to the KPI, which uses 10m data.

Also:

• the figures presented in the statistical release include lengths classified as DBFO whereas the KPI does not

• the time period used for the data varies slightly

Comparability to data from earlier years

Prior to 2007, the condition of local authority roads, footways, kerbs and verges was assessed through the National Road Maintenance Condition Survey (NRMCS). This was a sample survey of around 12,000 locations a year and consisted of visual inspections of the carriageway, footway, verge and kerb.

Defects to the highway and footway at each site were recorded and this information was used to produce the Defects Index.

Data collected by the visual surveys carried out for the NMRCS is not directly comparable with the data collected by SCANNER and TRACS. Therefore, it is not possible to compare the results from the visual surveys to the results from the automated surveys.

More detail on the differences between automated and visual surveys is provided in Section 2 and Section 3 respectively.

Survey response rate

Local authorities are required to provide DfT with figures relating to data collections specified on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Single Data List, as per the Local Government Act 1972. This includes:

• 130-01: principal road where maintenance should have been considered

• 130-02: non-principal classified road where maintenance should have been considered

• 130-03: skidding resistance data

• 130-04: carriageway work done data

Road condition surveys are carried out by local authorities and NH on a financial year basis (April to March). This data is then collected by DfT, starting approximately a month after the survey window has ended. In addition to the collection of data for the most recent financial year, local authorities are able to make revisions to the data for financial year prior to the latest reporting period. The small number of changes that are made to previous year data are marked in the latest tables.

Response rates to the surveys fell in 2020 due to multiple reasons, including the resource pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to levels seen pre-pandemic in 2024, with over 95% of local authorities providing valid submissions for 130-01. Where a local authority did not provide data in a given year, the tables published alongside the statistical release will denote this as missing data.

Links to other relevant data or websites

Road traffic
Road lengths
Congestion
National Highways (formerly Highways England)
Single Data List (Former National Indicators and Best Value Performance Indicators)
Previous road conditions publications

Contact details

Road condition statistics

Email [email protected]

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