HC Deb 19 January 1994 vol 235 cc596-7W
Mr. Gapes

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessments his Department has carried out into the costs of highway maintenance attributable to use by heavy goods vehicles.

Mr. Key

Heavy vehicles using the trunk road network are continually monitored in order to evaluate the wear and tear on the roads. The need for maintenance results primarily from traffic wear and tear although other aspects such as climatic effects and aging of road materials have an influence.

The vast majority of road wear and tear is caused by vehicles over 15kN unladen vehicle weight such as heavy goods vehicles—HGVs—and buses—PSVs. No precise breakdown of the cost of heavy goods vehicle related maintenance is readily available but in 1993–94, of the £700 million that we expect to spend on maintaining the trunk road network, less than half is attributable to traffic wear.