By Victoria Brenan

Last updated at 12:31, Saturday, 09 March 2013

Motorists in Cumbria face around 600 miles of roadworks every year.

Roadworks on James Street, Carlisle

Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information response showed that, at the end of January, there were 217 miles of roadworks to be completed by the end of this month.

The figures, from the county council, also revealed there were a total of 645 miles of roadworks due to be completed during 2012/13 – down on the 937 in the previous year.

In 2010, there were 639 miles of roadworks, 530 in 2009 and 516 in 2008. A county council spokeswoman said Cumbria had one of the largest road networks in the UK, so it was to be expected they would have “a relatively large figure for the total length of roadworks”.

“Cumbria measures approximately 2,613 square miles, and has had 217 miles of road works left in their annual programme,” she said. “In comparison, Oxford City Council, at just 17.6 square miles, had just 10 fewer miles of roadworks than Cumbria.

“Cumbria County Council always aim to ensure minimum disruption to traffic when carrying out road works, and the way that traffic will be affected is always factored in to our road works plans.”

She said the 2011 figure – significantly higher than the other years – could be down to flooding. It also came after a bitterly cold winter in 2010/11, when temperatures dropped to minus 20C and caused problems with potholes.

Wayne Casey, chairman of Carlisle Taxi Association, said it wasn’t the roadworks that caused problems for taxi drivers, but the knock-on effect of congestion.

“It causes problems when you’ve got passengers on board and the driver has to charge extra, and when drivers are on their way to collect someone,” he said.

“But there’s very little you can do about it. The roads have to be fixed.”

First published at 11:15, Saturday, 09 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk