Britain has 2,387 miles of unfinished roadworks

Many areas in Britain have hundreds of miles of unfinished roadworks totalling 2,387 miles across the UK.

One authority - Suffolk County Council - had 1,906 road maintenance projects under way, according to data gathered by breakdown service LV= Road Rescue.

In addition, Leicestershire County Council had 1,250 schemes on the go, while Derby City Council had 930.

66% of motorists polled consider road quality in their locale to be worsening.

A total of 91 councils provided information about the number of roadworks in their area, with the unfinished projects in these areas totalling 10,499, or an average of 115 per council.

A total of 62 councils gave information about the length in miles of their outstanding works, with the average being 11 miles.

LV= made estimates on what the overall national figure would look like and reckoned that there were 24,955 to-be-completed roadworks, equating to 2,387 miles in length.

A total of 109 councils said how much they had spent on road maintenance in 2013, with the overall figure of more than £647 million equating to an average of £5.94 million per council area.

LV= also gave the results of a survey, conducted in March 2014, of 2,001 Britons.

This showed that roadworks were affecting a third of journeys and adding an average of 12 minutes to travel times. Roadworks had caused 14% of motorists to be late for meetings in the last year.

While 66% of those polled felt road quality in their area was getting worse, 37% said projects were not completed quickly enough.

LV= Road Rescue managing director Peter Horton said: "Local authorities face a difficult challenge to repair and maintain our roads this year, particularly given the impact of the adverse weather we have seen in recent months.

"With more cars on the road than ever, it will be hard to carry out roadworks without impacting drivers."

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's economy and transport board, said: "Councils always look to ensure essential work by their highway teams is carried out efficiently and to a high
standard. We also work with utility firms to make sure they keep disruption to an absolute minimum and that works are co-ordinated and planned effectively.

"Despite deep funding cuts, councils fixed another two million potholes last year and continue to work flat out to repair the damage caused to our roads by last winter's flooding. The extreme weather has exacerbated the roads crisis facing this country with our roads now in such disrepair that it will take more than a decade and £12 billion to bring them up to scratch.

"We share the frustration of motorists about the state of our roads. Decades of underfunding have trapped councils in an endless cycle of only being able to patch up our road network. We need increased and consistent funding for the widespread resurfacing projects we desperately need if we're ever to see a long-term improvement."

According to the LV= data, these were the councils with the the highest number of roadworks in their area.

COUNCIL PROJECTS UNDER WAY

Suffolk County Council 1,906

Leicestershire County Council 1,250

Derby City Council 930

Carmarthenshire County Council 604

Nottingham City Council 590

East Riding of Yorkshire Council 582

Brighton & Hove 369

Vale of Glamorgan 355

London Borough of Southwark 122

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council 6

Related stories

Is this Britain's scariest road?

Funny road signs around the world

Take the ultimate road trip... in Britain!

Ten of the best scenic alternatives to motorways in the UK