Highways Maintenance

Highways maintenance typically refers to the upkeep and repair of public roads, pavements and other related infrastructure. This can include tasks such as filling potholes, resurfacing roads, repairing bridges, road signs and markings, traffic signals and street lights.

How we maintain Wiltshire's roads

Reactive maintenance

This approach involves responding to issues as they arise, such as repairing potholes or replacing damaged signs. Reactive repairs are primarily driven from our scheduled inspections but also public reports such as via the MyWilts app. When assessing defects, we apply intervention levels as laid out in our Highways Inspection Manual in other words, we prioritise the response based on specific safety criteria. You can find out more about how we assess roads by visiting our Roads, road care and cycle lanes webpage.

Planned maintenance

This approach involves scheduling regular maintenance tasks to prevent issues from arising in the first place or getting worse. For example, regular road resurfacing or bridge inspections to identify and address issues before they become more serious.

Asset management

This approach involves taking a long-term view of highways maintenance, and involves evaluating the condition of roads and infrastructure and prioritising maintenance tasks based on factors like condition, safety, cost and rate of deterioration.

Highways Asset Management

The local highway network is vital for businesses and communities, and effective maintenance to ensure its availability is essential to the economic development of the county. Wiltshire Council recognises the importance of maintaining and managing its highway network effectively.

Wiltshire Council is committed to the good management of the highway asset and has been implementing asset management principles for many years.

The Council's Policy and Strategy for highway infrastructure maintenance and renewal are contained in the documents below. An annual programme of surfacing and similar work is produced and reported to the Area Boards.

The overall condition of Wiltshire's roads compares favourably with the national average and the south-west average road conditions.

Wiltshire Council has identified a resilient network. This comprises the key routes into and through the county, which generally carry the most traffic, and where long term unavailability would be likely to cause serious disruption. These routes are given special consideration in connection with maintenance works and infrastructure renewal.

Funding

The majority of funding for Highways Maintenance comes from Department for Transport Grants.

In December 2023 the Department for Transport confirmed its 2024 to 25 grant allocation to the Council for Highway Maintenance purposes, with the amount standing at £20.272 million.

In addition to the above, in December 2023 the DfT announced the additional Network North funding following the cancellation of HS2. Wiltshire received an additional £2.614 million in both 2023/24 and 2024/25 giving a total additional grant of £5.228 million. This additional funding is known as the Road Resurfacing Fund and is specifically to be used for the resurfacing activities to prevent potholes and other road defects from occurring.

Also in 2023 the Council allocated an additional £10 million of funding, over 2 years, for preventative highway maintenance activities in the years 2024 to 2025, and 2025 to 2026. This together with increased DfT funding, has enabled an extensive programme of road resurfacing and treatment to be prepared for 2024/25 to improve the condition of the roads and a provisional surfacing programme has been identified for future years.

DfT Road Resurfacing Fund

Wiltshire Council will deliver over 430,000 square metres of additional resurfacing and highways maintenance work with the new funding unlocked from the Network North plan by the Department for Transport (DfT) made possible by reallocated HS2 funding. The Council has been awarded an additional £2,614,000 for each of the years 2023/24 and 2024/25 which is being used to deliver an increased surfacing programme this year. Full details can be found in the link below.

Additional Highways Funding (OpenDocument text format) [827KB] (opens new window)

Wiltshire Highways Investment Plan

The Council's Asset Management Policy and the Strategy set out the approach to be taken to maintaining the Council's highway infrastructure. The Council has applied the principles of asset management to the maintenance of its highway network for many years. This involves taking into account the lifecycle of the assets and monitoring performance of the intervention and investment strategies, with the objective of minimising expenditure while providing the required performance.

Carriageways represent the largest element of the highways asset. Their condition is assessed by means of various regular surveys, including the use of vehicle mounted lasers and visual inspections. This information is used to prioritise sites based on their condition and anticipated deterioration. A detailed analysis of current carriageway condition has been undertaken to ensure that investment in the network continues to be targeted at the right areas. A full explanation of the analysis carried out to inform the programme is set out in the Wiltshire Highways Investment Plan 2024 to 2025 a copy of which can be found below. Details of the schemes included in the forward five year programme can also be found below.

Wiltshire Highways investment Plan 2024/25 (OpenDocument text format) [10MB] (opens new window)