More testing needed of road repairs - report

More needs to be done to monitor the quality of repairs to Northern Ireland's roads following utility works, according to a report.

The NI Audit Office has said that substandard repairs to roads were "potentially a contributing factor" to the deterioration of the network.

Utility companies dug up Northern Ireland's roads 55,000 times in the past year.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has estimated that the total cost of clearing the maintenance backlog would be about £3bn.

Utility companies have to dig up roads and pavements for things like installing gas or upgrading home broadband.

In 2023/24 this occurred 55,000 times, an increase on 53,000 openings the previous year and 54,000 the year before.

Under current regulations, if a road is not repaired properly following utilities works, costs for any remedial action lie with those companies which carried out the work, rather than taxpayers, as long as the defects are identified within two to three years.

The Audit Office report looked at the DfI's performance in monitoring the quality of roadworks, and it is critical of the department's current scheme for testing these defects.

It notes that the department’s testing regime consists of a high number of visual inspections, along with a small amount of laboratory testing of samples taken from repairs.

The report states that while more than 90% of repairs are currently passing the visual inspection, the number of repairs that pass the laboratory tests is well below this.

Auditors also found the DfI does not inspect the amount of repairs that it is meant to, which the department says is because of reduced staffing.

The reports recommends the department consider whether the present warranty period in Northern Ireland is long enough.

It notes a review in Scotland which saw the warranty period there increase to six years.

'Repairs aren't up to scratch'

Road expert Wesley Johnston said budget constraints meant the DfI had not got enough resources to check repairs.

“Utilities are opening up our roads roughly 150 times a day across Northern Ireland, which is a lot. In some cases those repairs aren’t up to scratch," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

“The problem really is that we’re not detecting inadequate repairs in time in order for them to be put right."

“You are saving a bit of money on staff time but it’s then creating a lot of costs in putting these things right when they do fail.”

“We’re really just pushing the cost of it down into future generations."