Seven thousand potholes were reported to Glasgow City Council in the first two months of 2023 alone. Now, the council is increasing its budget for road repairs to £12 million.
The extra £6m funding - reallocated on a temporary basis from the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Improvement Fund - will be used towards helping road surfaces recover from the most damaging winter in over a decade.
Glasgow experienced its lowest temperatures in 12 years last December, followed by an extended period of heavy persistent rain which, combined with traffic, led to thousands of potholes forming across the city.
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Repairs, resurfacing and other measures have been on-going as part of the council’s usual maintenance programme that prioritises the most seriously affected road surfaces in Glasgow.
The £6m boost will double the current road maintenance budget and will ensure significant levels of additional work to fix potholes and other road faults in all 23 council wards is undertaken before the end of this financial year.
The enhanced budget is expected to go to repairing and maintaining almost 300,000 square metres of road surface in 130 city streets that have been assessed by the council’s roads team as also requiring attention.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, City Convener for Neighbourhood Services, believes allocating extra funding to road maintenance as the correct approach, given the shift in road condition in recent months.
Councillor Kelly said: “The winter is always a challenging time for road maintenance and the combined impact of low temperatures, rain and snow plays havoc with the condition of Glasgow’s roads and footways. Now is the time of year we need to catch up on that work.
“As a road user myself I can see what other motorists and cyclists see and I share their frustration at the increase in the number and size of potholes and the need for often significant repairs to damaged surfaces.
"This is a bread and butter issue the public tells us it wants prioritised. That’s why we are doubling the maintenance budget this year and ensuring that residents see marked improvements in their neighbourhoods and across the whole city.
“This investment means that over the next year we can target more of those areas where issues have emerged and we’ve already identified where those problems are. Glasgow’s roads have some of the highest usage in the country, which means more damage and more repairs required.
“While we are committed to improving local infrastructure I’ll also be making the case for a funding mechanisms which better recognises the national significance of Glasgow’s road network to the Scotland’s overall prosperity.”
The £6m that’s been reallocated to roads maintenance will be restored to the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Improvement Fund in future years.
The additional funding for roads will be spent on repairs, resurfacing and other interventions such as surface dressing, which help to eliminate cracks in the road surface that are vulnerable to the impact of the weather and traffic.
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