Local highways maintenance transparency report
June 2025
The Department for Transport expects all local highways authorities to publish information about their highways maintenance activities to help local taxpayers see the difference that funding is making in their areas.
We maintain 7035 km (4372 miles) of carriageways, including 10km (6 miles) of the M65 motorway, and 7827 km (4864 miles) of footways and cycleways in Lancashire.
Lengths of highway, footways and cycleways (km)
| A Road | B and C roads | U roads | Total roads | Footways | Other public rights of way | Cycleways |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 809.68 km | 468.53 km | 1290.5km | 4456.36 km | 7827 km | 5600km | 865 km |
We also maintain 294,000 gullies, 163,00 streetlights, signs and illuminated bollards, 700 traffic signal installations and crossings and 1832 bridges and 70km of retaining walls.
| Year | Capital allocated by DfT (£,000s) | Capital spend (£,000s) | Revenue spend (£,000s) | Estimate of % spent on preventative maintenance* | Estimate of % spent on reactive maintenance* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 (projected) | £46825 | £71848 | £24157 | 61% | 39% |
| 2024/25 | £32472 | £68051 | £23936 | 59% | 41% |
| 2023/24 | £37594 | £44941 | £24036 | 55% | 45% |
| 2022/23 | £28811 | £42130 | £21463 | 56% | 44% |
| 2021/22 | £28811 | £59794 | £17492 | 60% | 40% |
| 2020/21 | £38325 | £47342 | £18139 | 61% | 39% |
Note; The forecast capital spend for 25/26 includes £15m additional funding for Highways Maintenance approved at full council and also £9.924m to complete prior year schemes.
Highway maintenance capital spending is focused on managing the full range of assets we are responsible for covering carriageways, footways, bridges, street lighting, drainage, traffic signals and other assets. The approach is to invest in preventative treatments rather than 'worst first' wherever we can. All assets are managed on a risk-based approach taking into consideration asset condition and the strategic nature of the assets. In the financial year 2024/25 we have undertaken:
- 58 miles of surface dressing and 24 miles of resurfacing for carriageways
- Carried out 3 miles of footway reconstruction
- For Bridges and Structures, we have:
- Completed the delivery of £6m works as part of a £9m project to refurbish structures and reduce future maintenance on the A601M/A6070 in Carnforth.
- Completed £2.8m works to rebuild three failed retaining walls on classified roads in Chorley, South Ribble, and Rossendale.
- £2.7m on various bridge maintenance projects including maintenance painting, concrete repairs, and scour prevention.
- Completion of £3m average speed camera project
- Renew lining at 144 zebra crossings, 48 mini roundabouts, 39 junctions and 1,422 other re-lining schemes
- replacing 1460 street lighting columns
- refurbished 26 Traffic Signal Installations
- cleansed 113,000 gullies on a planned cyclical basis and 13,000 gullies on a reactive basis.
We will also be responding to emerging issues such as potholes, street lighting and traffic signal faults, drainage concerns, as well as winter gritting and emergency responses.
We aim to fill all potholes first time with a permanent fix and are investing in larger scale patching to ensure that the areas where we have to visit repeatedly to fill potholes are in good order.
Estimate of number of potholes filled
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50466 | 58125 | 62395 | 84142 | 97757 |
Whilst we have to respond to emerging issues such as potholes, we are aiming through our investment strategy to transition our spend more on planned preventative maintenance than responsive maintenance; we are doing this by ensuring more first time permanent repairs and utilising innovative products and AI technology.