What Can Britain Learn from the World's Best Roads?

Why Other Countries Resurface Roads Before They Fail – and Why Britain Must Do the Same

For years, Britain has become trapped in a vicious cycle of potholes, patching and decline. While politicians continue to boast about "record funding", our roads continue to crumble, with the carriageway maintenance backlog in England and Wales now standing at £18.6 billion.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Around the world, many of the best-performing highway authorities have adopted a completely different philosophy. Instead of waiting for roads to fail before spending money, they invest in preventative maintenance and planned resurfacing. The result is smoother roads, fewer potholes, lower long-term costs and safer journeys for everyone.

Britain is the Exception – Not the Rule

Countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, Australia and New Zealand treat their roads as valuable national assets.

Rather than relying on endless reactive pothole repairs, they use long-term asset management programmes backed by stable funding. Modern pavement management systems monitor road condition, predict deterioration years in advance and identify exactly when a road should be resurfaced.

This means roads are repaired before structural failure occurs, extending their lifespan and avoiding the enormous costs associated with rebuilding failed carriageways.

How Often Do Other Countries Resurface Their Roads?

On busy roads, many developed nations typically resurface every:

- 10–15 years on heavily trafficked roads.

- 12–20 years on lower traffic routes, depending on climate and usage.

- Preventative surface treatments are often applied even earlier to preserve the existing road surface.

Compare that with England, where many councils currently estimate they would only be able to resurface every 60 to 100 years at current funding levels.

That simply isn't road maintenance.

It's managed decline.

How Do They Pay for It?

Most successful countries don't rely on emergency funding announcements every winter.

Instead they provide:

- Long-term national transport budgets.

- Dedicated road user taxes or fuel taxes.

- Multi-year funding settlements.

- Performance-based maintenance contracts.

- Asset management strategies focused on whole-life value.

This gives highway authorities certainty to plan resurfacing programmes years ahead rather than constantly firefighting the latest pothole crisis.

Prevention Costs Less Than Failure

The biggest lesson from overseas is simple.

Every pound invested before a road fails saves several pounds later.

When a road is resurfaced at the right time, the underlying structure remains intact. Leave it too long and water enters the pavement, the foundation weakens and potholes begin to appear. Eventually the entire road requires costly reconstruction rather than a relatively inexpensive resurfacing treatment.

That is exactly where much of Britain's network now finds itself.

Britain Needs a New Approach

Instead of celebrating the number of potholes filled, Government should measure success by:

- Fewer potholes.

- Better road condition.

- Reduced maintenance backlog.

- Improved skid resistance.

- Lower compensation claims.

- Fewer crashes caused by defective roads.

- Better value for taxpayers.

The current reactive approach is costing motorists billions in vehicle damage, increasing risks for cyclists and motorcyclists, and placing an ever-growing financial burden on future generations.

The Mr Pothole Solution

Britain needs to stop thinking about potholes and start thinking about preserving roads.

That means:

- Ringfencing road-user taxes solely for highway maintenance.

- Investing around £4 billion every year in planned local road resurfacing.

- Introducing a rolling 10 to 15-year national resurfacing programme.

- Funding roads through long-term asset management rather than short-term political cycles.

- Using Treasury Green Book principles to invest now and reduce costs in the future.

The Bottom Line

The world's best roads aren't better because they spend recklessly.

They're better because they spend earlier, smarter and for the long term.

Britain already pays billions in road-related taxes every year. The problem isn't simply the amount of money available—it's how and when we choose to invest it.

Until we move away from patch-and-mend repairs and embrace planned resurfacing, Britain's pothole epidemic will continue to grow.

The rest of the world has already shown us the solution.

The question is: will the UK finally learn from it?