In Britain’s pothole crisis, as half the country’s roads crumble and the repair backlog hits record highs

HARD-UP motorists are in for pothole hell, a report warns today.

Fewer craters are being repaired, almost half of our roads are crumbling and the repair backlog is at a record high.

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But motorists are burdened with billions in taxes and duties.

Experts say it will take 11 years to update – with one Tory MP branding it a ‘national embarrassment’.

Angry motorist groups said drivers deserved better as they face a 10 per cent increase in road taxes next month – on top of huge sums in fuel taxes.

The shocking Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) report found that 51 per cent of the 205,400 miles of local roads in England and Wales are in good condition.

A third is sufficient.

One in six – 37,000 miles – is in dire need of an upgrade before it becomes dangerous.

The cost of the road repair backlog is said to have risen 11 per cent from a year earlier to a new high of £14bn.

The report added: “That equates to £68,000 per mile of local road and would take an average of 11 years to complete.”

Pothole repairs have fallen to their lowest number in a decade as inflation squeezes municipal budgets.

A total of 1.4million were filled in last year at a cost of £93.7million.

Still, 1.7 million potholes were filled in each of 2021 and 2022 — and 2.7 million in 2015.

A £200m pothole fund was pledged in last week’s budget.

Critics are calling for five times that, and AIA’s Rick Green warned, “The one-off payment isn’t enough — and will do little to halt further decline.”

According to the report, a pothole is filled every 22 seconds.

Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Transport Selection Committee, fumed: “This black pothole is a national embarrassment. Drivers wouldn’t be wrong if they thought the lanes were ruined.”

The RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said the report made terrible reading.

The AA’s Jack Cousens added: “Years of paving solutions haven’t solved the problem so now is the time to make serious investments.”

The Department for Transport said: “We are investing more than £5billion in local motorway maintenance from 2020 to 2025 and have recently announced an additional £200million for pothole repairs.

“This will help make travel smoother and safer for everyone, repair dozens of bridges and resurface roads.”