Pothole repairs underway across Wales with new £25 million funding
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates, visited Flintshire on Thursday to see first-hand the work being carried out as part of a major programme to improve road conditions across Wales.
Work is already underway to repair potholes and resurface key routes, following the Welsh Government’s announcement of an additional £25 million in funding announced earlier this week.
This investment, included in the draft budget, will see an extra 100 kilometres of the strategic road network resurfaced in the new financial year, preventing around 30,000 potholes from forming.
During his visit to the A494 near Mold, Mr Skates observed maintenance teams fixing potholes ahead of planned resurfacing work.
The road, which connects Mold, Deeside, and Chester with the A55, is a key transport route for the region, used daily by thousands of motorists.
Speaking on site, Mr Skates said:
“We are already working hard to fill potholes and renew, as fast as possible, key sections of our road network, but this additional funding will be a further boost to help maintain our roads.”
The £25 million is dedicated to resurfacing trunk roads, which are maintained by the Welsh Government.
These roads form the backbone of Wales’ transport infrastructure, linking communities and supporting economic activity.
Alongside this, a £60 million borrowing initiative has been made available to local authorities across Wales to support the maintenance of council-managed roads.
Mr Skates added:
“This particular road—the A494—was on my daily commute for more than 10 years, so I know how important it is. Right now, it’s mainly about filling potholes ahead of resurfacing, but Welsh Government engineers, working with counterparts in Germany and Scotland, have developed an advanced road surface, which will be used here.”
The new road surface has been designed using the latest engineering innovations to improve durability and reduce the risk of defects forming in the future.
The aim is to provide a longer-lasting solution rather than relying on repeated short-term repairs.
Long-Term Investment in Road Infrastructure
The Welsh Government’s funding is intended to provide long-term benefits for road users by preventing future damage and ensuring smoother, safer journeys.
By prioritising resurfacing rather than just filling potholes, officials say the improvements will reduce disruption and lower long-term maintenance costs.
Mr Skates emphasised this approach, saying:
“Covering potholes is really just a short-term fix. That’s why this funding is focused on resurfacing, which will reduce future defects and improve road conditions for motorists.”
The resurfacing work is set to be rolled out across Wales in the coming months, with priority given to routes in greatest need of repair.
RAC data
Pothole-related breakdowns jumped by a fifth (17%) in the final three months of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, a sign of the ongoing poor condition of Britain’s roads, breakdown data from the RAC shows.
RAC patrols went to the rescue of 4,709 drivers from October to December for damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs or distorted wheels – the call-outs most likely to be caused by wear and tear from defective road surfaces. This was 669 more than the 4,040 recorded in the third quarter of 2024.
In the same winter period, almost four-in-10 breakdowns (39%) the RAC attended were a result of punctured tyres, due to potholes along with other factors like nails and screws. This was the highest proportion of breakdowns caused by punctures in any quarter during 2024.
Sub-zero temperatures, along with water from rain, melted snow and ice are normally the cause of potholes as water freezes and expands in cracks in the roads. Although there were fewer frost days and nearly a third (28%) less rainfall than average in the fourth quarter of 2024, the number of pothole breakdowns still rose.
The number of pothole breakdowns could increase even more in 2025 following the recent severe weather conditions, which last week meant the RAC had one of its busiest periods for breakdowns in the five years since the COVID pandemic.
Garage data analysed by the RAC shows that drivers of typical family cars can expect to pay an average of £460 if their car needs fixing after hitting a pothole, for anything more serious than a puncture. This is around 43% more than the average cost of pothole compensation claims paid out by councils to drivers in 2023 at £260 per claim, according to FOI data.
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