Funding affecting pothole repairs across Wales

It will take seven years and £700m to get roads in Wales back to a reasonable condition, a study has revealed.

The Annual Local Authority Maintenance (Alarm) survey looks at the state of roads across the UK.

It found that, on average, they are resurfaced in Wales every 59 years, with 115,000 potholes filled in 2015.

It comes as the Welsh Government announced £28m for transport projects across Wales.

The Alarm study, carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, also found road users claimed compensation totalling £4m last year.

The figure of 115,000 pothole repairs for 2015 was down 10% on 2014, which was attributed to a mild winter and councils not having the money to pay for repairs.

Morfa distributor road should help improve traffic flows from the Liberty Stadium to the city centre on match days

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Edwina Hart said the money she was announcing would fund 100 schemes "to improve safety, create economic growth and promote active travel".

Among the projects to benefit is the Morfa distributor road in Swansea, which will get £1.1m to improve access to jobs and services and reduce congestion and air quality problems on the A4067 Neath Road.

Other schemes to benefit include:

• £1.4m for the A48-A473 link road to improve access to Waterton Industrial Estate, Bridgend

• £1.1m for the Port Talbot transport hub next to Parkway railway station

• £1.7m towards construction of the Llangefni link road

• £5m for 30 walking and cycling routes across 20 local authorities

• £1.9m for road safety training programmes such as PassPlus Cymru, National Standard Cycle Training and motorcyclist training

Mrs Hart also announced £210,000 to create the role of Traffic Commissioner for Wales and three support staff, subject to UK government approval.

The commissioner's responsibilities would include taking action against and licensing buses, coach and heavy goods vehicle operators, registering bus services and granting licenses.