The real impact of roadworks on the country

Much of the network was built in the 1960s and 1970s, as car ownership expanded - but those roads and bridges are now reaching the end of their "serviceable life", explains Nicola Bell, the agency's executive director.

In Wales, too, a large amount of highways infrastructure was built in the 1960s and 1970s. Drivers can expect some "essential maintenance work", according to the Welsh government, though it's less clear there, as well as in Scotland and Northern Ireland, whether disruption from road works will increase in the same way as it's predicted to in England.

Problems on the roads have consequences. Most of us use roads to travel, but for many people they also mark a daily interaction with the machinery of the state, and they shape opinion of how well the country is - or isn't - working.

Plus, there is a cost to the economy.

In all, 2.2 million street and road works were carried out between 2022 and 2023 in England, according to the Department for Transport (DfT), costing the economy around ?4bn through travel disruption.

It's a fine balance between the benefits of improved infrastructure, versus the cost of disruption.

But does the country have that balance right?