A MASSIVE funding crisis has led to crumbling rural roads in our region.

But a North Yorkshire highways chief said today it would cost £400 million to rebuild roads to modern standards and make them easier to repair.

The national policy of prioritising more heavily used urban roads is being blamed for deteriorating country lanes.

David Bowe, assistant director of highways at North Yorkshire County Council, said: "There is an issue with the structural condition of the network.

"It is not dangerous to road users - but poorly constructed roads suffer more frequent damage and costs spiral."

A survey by the Asphalt Industry Association says some country roads are only resurfaced every 86 years, compared with the recommended maximum of 20.

A budget shortfall of £9 million per rural authority means highways departments cannot maintain roads properly.

Mr Bowe said roads in urban areas were constructed to a high specification which lasted better.

But rural roads tend to be built over old lanes and tracks, surfaced with a hard material.

"They ought to be treated differently when it comes to funding," he said.

"Rural roads are poorly constructed and very narrow, which means they suffer more damage because the load of traffic is at the edge rather than in the middle.

"It would cost £400m to bring them up to scratch, but we couldn't even manage that at the rate of £20m a year for 20 years. In reality we only receive about £4m a year."

The county council faced criticism when it announced plans to recycle road chippings to resurface other sites.

But Mr Bowe said uneven pieces bonded well with tar and were adequate on rural roads.

"We've had an excellent result and, since we can't afford the perfectly structured roads, it is definitely worthwhile," he said.

But East Riding of Yorkshire Council said it was bucking the national trend and the condition of its rural roads was improving.

Civil engineering services manager Dave Waudby said: "We are in the top ten per cent for the condition of our rural classified road network.

"We were one of the first councils to bring in new methods of surveying, which means we can deal with problems more quickly."

Coun Ann Reid, the executive member for transport and planning for City of York Council, said roadworks were prioritised on a technical basis by highways engineers.

She said that the ones in worst condition were assessed more than once, with factors such as proximity to schools being considered, before the authority checked how much cash was available and what repairs could be done.

"We have certainly put more money into highways in the last two years than there ever has been before," she said.

"When the council boundaries changed and we started being responsible for rural roads we noticed an increase in problems."

Updated: 10:14 Wednesday, August 10, 2005